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Aging Hyde Park Home Beauties Get Face-Lift

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Frank Griffin shows off the entry area of one of the two buildings he and his wife, Leslie, bought and restored.

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By PHILIP MORGAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 14, 2008

TAMPA - It looks as if the house at 701 W. Bay St. will see its 100th birthday - maybe even its 200th.

That hasn't always been such a sure thing.

Built as a single-family home in 1909, it was a decrepit quadraplex of apartments in 1993 when Frank and Leslie Griffin bought it and returned it to its original splendor.

Their years of work saw a big setback when, in April 2007, a fire destroyed a second-floor room. A passing Boy Scout spotted the blaze and alerted firefighters in time to save most of the building.

The Griffins, whose company specializes in restoring old buildings, gutted the house to replace smoke-infused drywall. While they were at it, they reinforced piers, joists and studs to meet new hurricane code requirements.

"This thing is ready for 100 more years," Leslie says.

They're listing it, along with a converted garage-to-office out back, for $895,000. They're also selling the restored house next door, at 703 W. Bay, for $595,000. It, too, was built in 1909. The National Park Service has certified both homes as historic rehabilitations. A common porch and wheelchair ramp links the buildings, which are being sold separately or together as offices.

The Griffins blended the necessities of a modern office building - sprinkler system, fire doors and alarms - with the look of an affluent Hyde Park home at the turn of the 20th century.

"It keeps its ambiance of a hundred-year-old house, yet it has all the bells and whistles," Frank says.

In each building, visitors enter a living room warmed by gleaming wood floors, high ceilings, fireplace and elegant molding adorned with fluted and rosette patterns. Out front, a huge covered porch evokes a simpler era.

"It's great to see owners of historical buildings recognize their value," says Dennis Fernandez of the city's Architectural Review Commission. "The Griffins went above and beyond in these restorations."

Here are some of the features:

•The original rare, floated glass of the early 20th century fills many of the windows. Looking through them makes the world outside look like an impressionist painting.

•Hand-etched fern patterns decorate the glass panels on a set of interior French doors.

•The original heart pine, valued for its endurance, covers the main floors of both homes. Restorers took pieces from the bedrooms, carpeted now for offices, to replace bad wood in the main areas.

•Asbestos shingles, which had covered the outside of the house at 703 Bay St., were removed to reveal the original cypress siding, which Frank says was still in good shape. Most of the original cypress shingles on the 701 house also were saved.

For 60 years, music teacher Betsy Leak owned the 701 building. She taught at Wilson Junior High. After the buildings were restored, they served as an assisted living center and later, until last year's fire, as the offices of Schifino Lee, an advertising company.

"When we bought it, the important things were intact," Leslie says, "that's what motivated us to restore it.'

The Griffins specialize in bringing back old buildings, they say, because they love the history. Frank was influenced by his late father, also a contractor, who grew up in Savannah, a mecca of grand old homes.

Leslie's family goes back four generations in Tampa.

"I'm vested in a love for the area," she says. "I want Tampa, especially this area, to retain as much as it can of its historical nature."

Reporter Philip Morgan can be reached at (813) 259-7609 or pmorgan@tampatrib.com.

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