The circa 1925 Green-Richman Arcade is a boom
era commercial building built along Central Avenue, the "main
street" of St. Petersburg. The Green-Richman Arcade was one of an
estimated eleven shopping arcades in the downtown core of St. Petersburg
during the 1920s and 1940s and is one of only three remaining arcades in
downtown. This building type was popular throughout the country in the
early part of this century and was listed on the National Register in
1998.
The Green-Richman Arcade is designed in the
Mission Revival style which is very similar to the Mediterranean Revival
style, sharing common features such as a flat or low-pitched roof with
barrel tiles, stucco-finished walls, and Spanish-influenced ornamentation.
However the Mission Revival style contains a prominent, decorative parapet
wall, generally on the front facade. The Green-Richman Arcade contains
this prominent parapet wall on both the front and the rear facades.
The building was designed by George Feltham,
a noted local architect between 1913 and 1926 who was commissioned to
design some of the City’s most significant buildings including the Ponce
de Leon Hotel, First Baptist Church, Sunset Hotel, Hotel Miller, Kenwood
Court Apartments, Lantern Lane Apartments and Lakeview Apartments. The
Green-Richman Arcade was built for the Real Estate partnership of John B.
Green and William Richman on Central Avenue. John Green purchased the
property at 689 Central Avenue in 1923. This project was the first result
of a business partnership between Green and Richman, who was the silent
partner in the duo's real estate business. In St. Petersburg, John Green
owned, developed and offered for sale many subdivisions, including
Brightwaters on Snell Isle. In the process of development in 1947, it was
generally considered one of the finest residential developments on
Florida's West Coast.
Upon the completion of the Green-Richman
Arcade, the building was immediately occupied by sixteen real estate
related firms, and the office of George Feltham. The main ground floor
shop was the office of Green-Richman Real Estate. This company, a
significant real estate company in St. Petersburg in its time, remained at
this building until 1930. Other successful real estate companies would
continue to be located in the building, including the office of John H.
Tourtelot and Parsley and Stone Inc., Real Estate. In 1934 the building
was renamed the Seventh Street Arcade; Parsley and Stone, Inc. purchased
the building from John Green in 1936, and in 1948 the building became
known as the Parsley and Stone Arcade. |