The story
The Hillsboro Hotel was built in early 1911 and became a nine-story landmark, the largest commercial hotel in Florida. It had marble floors and staircases, upscale shops and a top-floor dining room. It was expanded in 1924.
In 1948 it changed hands several times, and Lykes Brothers won it at public auction for $648,000. In the 1950s the MacFarlane Ferguson law firm bought it and updated it. The 400-room hotel declined as travelers' tastes changed, and hotel functions ended in 1969.
In 1980 structural concerns led to office tenants being told to leave. In 1986, in what Old Tampa Photos calls a hushed deal, the owners donated the building to the Lowry Park Zoo and Future Farmers foundations. In 1993 a buyer for the land was identified, demolition was announced and the building came down that year.
What's There Now
A parking lot.
Everything that was here
- 1911–1969
Hillsboro HotelHotel
Florida's largest commercial hotel in 1911, it was quietly donated to a zoo foundation in 1986 and demolished in 1993.
See the map in 1912 →
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Nearby history
Federal Building, U.S. Courthouse and Downtown Postal Station
Tampa City Hall (1915)
Maas Brothers Department Store
Franklin Theatre / Florida Theatre
Tampa Theatre
Tampa Tribune Building (Lafayette Street)
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