A HISTORICAL HOTEL

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With construction beginning in 1926, the Mari Jean Hotel building is significant for its association with the development of the tourism industry in St. Petersburg during the 1920s. Built during the city’s golden era of hotels, the hotel with its fifty-four rooms each with a private, en suite bathroom reflects the changing character of the city’s lodging industry from small boarding homes to the larger sized hotels built during the Florida Land Boom Era. The new Mari Jean Hotel welcomed Guests for the first time at the onset of the winter season in 1927.

Unlike the larger hotels built in the 1920s, the Mari Jean was operated by its owner for over thirty-four years until 1970. In addition, throughout its life as a hotel the Mari Jean operated seasonally, closing its doors after tourists left with the onset of the summer heat.  

The 1950s brought the advent of air conditioning, enabling the Mari Jean Hotel to extend its seasonal operation to an annual one, welcoming Guests in from the heat of summer instead of having to close at the end of each spring. The end of World War II and the return of America's GIs meant the automobile industry could focus on its huge backlog of consumers eager for new vehicles. The birth of the interstate highway system would bring more traffic to St. Petersburg than ever before and the City said good-bye to its streetcars, removing rails and making way for expanded roadways including Central Avenue right in front of the Mari Jean Hotel.

After the turn of the century, (1900s to 2000s, to be clear), the Grand Central District had fallen out of favor with tourists and locals looking for great restaurants, shops, and more. Situated on the lot immediately to the east of the Mari Jean Hotel sat a small bungalow built in 1923 by the original owners of the hotel. The lush landscaping that once served as an outdoor courtyard accessible through a doorway, in which the hotel's modern elevator now stops, had become overgrown and unkempt. In the early teens, the bungalow was slated for demolition. No longer visible from Central Avenue or the sidewalk, the property owner was petitioned by several local residents with an ask to donate the home.

Rallying the local community and even raise funds by selling cuttings from a large plumeria tree growing in front of the bungalow, the money needed to relocate the home and begin restoring it had been raised. In August 2013, with the landscaping cleared, the bungalow was lifted off its foundation with a hydraulic dolly system and set atop wood beams called box cribs, enabling long steel beams to be wheeled beneath the structure. Once readied for the move, wood planks were placed along the soft, sandy ground, remote control wheel dollies slowly pulled the structure from where it had sat for nearly a  century and began its move 482 feet to its new location, less than 1/10 of a mile east of the hotel.

Opening in 2014 awash in a beautiful coat of blue paint as the first LGBTQ Welcome Center in The Grand Central District, the bungalow has gone through a few transitions in the years since. Still serving the LGBTQ+ community, it is now home to the Metro Inclusive Health Pharmacy. You may have even passed right by it whether walking along Central Avenue (it's on the same side of the avenue as the Mari Jean Hotel) or driving between the hotel and Interstate 275. Recently, the bungalow was repainted, and it is once again white as it had been long before its relocation.

For true history buffs, check out some of the self-guided walking tours in St. Petersburg. Click HERE for details.