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Tampa Bay's peerless piers

Burgert Bros.

When St. Petersburg's Million-Dollar Pier was dedicated in November 1926, 10,000 cheering spectators turned out. The pier became the city's most identifiable landmark.

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By GARY R. MORMINO

Tribune correspondent

Published: June 5, 2009

At some point in the 1950s, architects began designing boring buildings.

Question: Which modern buildings standing in today's Tampa or St. Petersburg will be considered majestic in 2059?
• The East Berlin-inspired structures on the University of South Florida campus?
• The buildings dotting Hillsborough Community College's Ybor City campus that bear no relationship with their neighborhood?
• Tampa's "new" City Hall, with its austere exterior?
• The glass box skyscrapers of downtown St. Petersburg and Tampa, each adorned with their brand names?

Once upon a time, residents adored the structures that graced Tampa Bay's streets and bays. Consider the piers built between the 1880s and 1920s. Built with no small amounts of whimsy and practicality, the piers of Tampa and St. Petersburg were legendary.

Tampa's most beloved structure

The Ballast Point Pavilion and Pier, built in the 1880s by the irrepressible Emelia W. Chapin — she of the private streetcar — may have been the most beloved structure in Tampa history.

The Pavilion and Pier was one of the most fanciful buildings ever designed. The massive wooden structure included an open-air dance floor, an elegant dining room, a bathhouse, an amusement park featuring a two-story toboggan, and a zoo complete with bears and panthers.

Electric lights lined the boardwalk, and a retired Japanese naval officer operated a concession booth. In keeping with a Gilded Age awash in Asian vases and carpets, the Ballast Park Pavilion was adorned with curved pagoda eaves and carved Chinese dragons.

Alas, the hurricane of 1921 badly damaged the wooden structure. A fire the following year destroyed the glorious pavilion. City officials replaced the structure in 1925.

A million-dollar pier in Pinellas

In the early 1920s, urban planner John Nolen urged St. Petersburg officials to purchase and annex the sparsely inhabited barrier island of St. Pete Beach. Instead, St. Petersburg decided to invest in a structure that would serve as a crown jewel: the Million Dollar Pier.

The 1920s had brought glittering success to St. Petersburg. In rapid succession, Snell Isle and the Gandy Bridge, the Soreno and Vinoy Park hotels, spring training and winter tourism all elevated the Sunshine City's status. When the pier was dedicated in November 1926, 10,000 cheering spectators turned out. In the evening, 3,000 couples danced the night away. The pier became the city's most identifiable landmark and a waterfront attraction.

Condemned in 1967, the Million Dollar Pier gave way to the 1973 upside-down pyramid, a design that few seem to adore. Today, the fate of the 1973 structure is as uncertain as future designs and funding.

Gary R. Mormino is co-director of the Florida Studies Program at USF St. Petersburg. He invites your letters and stories. Reach him by e-mail at gmormino@stpt.usf.edu.

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