NEIGHBORHOODS
Tucked into a hilly enclave,
this downtown neighborhood is a historic gem
66 StPeteLifeMag.com January/February 2020
PHOTO S/KAI WARREN
What just might be St. Pete’s best kept secret is really as old as,
well, the hills that are a part of it. In Historic Roser Park, a jumble
of historic homes both large and small are set into hillsides and
on hilltops. Once the site of Tocobaga Indian mounds now long
buried beneath the streets, this 270-acre district just south of
a mix of creatives and professionals, artists and entrepreneurs,
young and old, single and married, straight and gay, yet all
linked together by a love of historic charm and old-fashioned
neighborliness.
The Historic Roser Park neighborhood lies hidden in the shadow
of Bayfront Medical Center’s mass of hospital buildings and
parking garages. The steeply descending brick street of Roser
Park Drive leads into a surprising landscape of majestic oaks
and towering palms, and along the winding Booker Creek
which is dotted with benches and blooming bougainvillea. The
neighborhood is home to a wide variety of architectural styles
and types, including Frame Vernacular, Bungalow, Prairie,
Foursquare, Craftsman, Mediterranean Revival, Colonial Revival,
Neoclassical, and Tudor Revival. But as lots and older homes
get sold, more new homes are being built. Like downtown St
Petersburg, the Historic Roser Park neighborhood is experiencing
a renaissance.
The Roser Park Vision
Roser Park was the vision of wealthy Ohio developer Charles M.
Roser. He began work on his idyllic “suburb” in 1911, purchasing
a 10-acre citrus grove south of the city and eventually adding
more land along Booker Creek. Brick was a rare and expensive
material in those days, but Roser insisted upon its abundant use.
The subdivision soon expanded to 80 unique and beautiful homes.
downtown St. Petersburg business district, Roser Park was an
Historic Roser Park
BY MARCIA BIGGS
/StPeteLifeMag.com