Don Ce Sar Hotel
About this property
The Don CeSar is a hotel located in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Developed by Thomas Rowe and opened in 1928, it gained renown as the Gulf playground for America's pampered rich at the height of the Jazz Age. The hotel was designed by Henry H. Dupont. The Don CeSar is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 1924, Thomas Rowe purchased 80 acres (320,000 m2) of land in St. Petersburg and Pass-a-Grille for $100,000 to begin his dream of building a "pink castle". He hired architect Henry Dupont to design the hotel and Carlton Beard as contractor. To ensure the stability of the hotel on the shifting sand and avoid the high cost of sinking so many pilings, Beard devised a floating concrete pad and pyramid footings. To this day, there is no sign of evident settling of the hotel. The architecture is a blend of Mediterranean and Moorish styles modeled after different hotels and developments that Rowe and Beard saw in Palm Beach, Coral Gables and Boca Raton. Arched openings, red clay tile roofs, balconies, stucco over hollow tile and tower like upper stories were some of the elements that they borrowed. The original design called for a $450,000 six-story hotel with 110 rooms and baths. It was expanded to 220 rooms and 220 baths, and the costs soared to $1.25 million, 300% over budget. Rowe named it Don Ce-Sar after Don César de Bazan, the hero of William Vincent Wallace's opera Maritana. Thomas Rowe’s main motivation for the design of Don Cesar came from his love for an opera singer named Lucinda. They could not be together because of the singers’ parents’ disapproval so Thomas put his time into the creation of the ‘Pink Place’ as tribute to her. However, Don Cesar over the years has received several renovations, for example in 2011 there was a seven-million-dollar renovation replacing the Don Cesar’s tropical design with a more modern look meant to appeal to younger tourists and visitors. These changes were conducted by removing a fountain located on the fifth floor which was a replica of the same fountain that Thomas Rowe and Lucinda met while he was in London; the renovation also included other upgrades across the property. Rowe's "Pink Lady" opened on January 16, 1928, with an extravagant party attended by the elite of Tampa, Florida and St. Petersburg, Florida. The hotel quickly became a favorite romping ground for the rich and famous of the Jazz Age including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Clarence Darrow, Al Capone, Lou Gehrig, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Pink Palace continued to attract the rich and famous throughout the Great Depression in part to a deal made with New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert to house his team during spring training for three years.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Don Ce Sar Hotel
This page lists Don Ce Sar Hotel. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Don Ce Sar Hotel listed on the National Register?
Don Ce Sar Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 2, 1975.
What type of historic resource is Don Ce Sar Hotel?
Don Ce Sar Hotel is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Don Ce Sar Hotel?
The period of significance for Don Ce Sar Hotel is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Don Ce Sar Hotel?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Don Ce Sar Hotel will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Pinellas County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Pinellas County.
Explore PinellasCounty ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Don Ce Sar Hotel will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.