Tampa Theatre and Office Building, 711 Franklin Street, Tampa, Florida, West Facade

Creator

Sape A. Zylstra

Files

Preview

Creation Date

January 1980

Time Period

circa 1980s-1990s

Abstract

Between the first and top stories, the building has a simple fenestration in a central bay four windows wide and slightly projecting corner bays which are continued as towers above a frieze-like string course. Above the frieze there is a wealth of decoration: balconies, spandrels, mullions, window surrounds, and cornices in cast stone and terra-cotta. John Eberson designed this theater, built in 1925. Eberson invented the so-called atmospheric theater, and this one has, in addition to lavish interior decorations, a make-believe open-air auditorium: the plaster ceiling hung from metal trusses has holes with lights behind (to simulate a starry sky) and is surrounded by tiled roof edges and "exterior" walls with blind windows and balconies to give the audience the sense of being in a Mediterranean piazza. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is the west facade.

Keywords

Motion picture theaters, Office buildings, John Eberson (1875-1954)

Extent

1 color slide

Geographic Location

Hillsborough County (Fla.); Tampa (Fla.)

Physical Collection

Sape A. Zylstra Collection of Tampa Architectural Slides

Box

1

Media Type

Color slides

Note

Title supplied by cataloger. Description supplied by Sape A. Zylstra.

Identifier

Z03-A066

Recommended Citation

Zylstra, Sape A., "Tampa Theatre and Office Building, 711 Franklin Street, Tampa, Florida, West Facade" (1980). Sape A. Zylstra Collection of Tampa Photographs. Image 66.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/zylstra/66