National Register of Historic Places

Roebling, Donald, Estate

Clearwater, Pinellas County, Florida
Listed
December 19, 1979
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
79000689

About this property

The Donald Roebling Estate, also known as Spottiswoode and Spotswood, is a historic residential estate within the City of Clearwater, in Pinellas County on the West Coast of Florida, United States. It was the home of inventor, engineer, industrial designer, and philanthropist Donald Roebling (1908–1959). It is located on the channel at 700 Spottiswoode Lane in Clearwater. Roebling bought and named the parcel of land Spottiswoode, in honor of his fiancée, Florence Spotswood Parker. Donald Roebling was the great-grandson of John Augustus Roebling who designed the Brooklyn Bridge, and grandson of Washington Roebling who was in charge of the bridge's construction. The buildings were designed in the Tudor Revival style by architects Roy W. Wakeling and John Phillipoff, and the residence was completed in 1929. The estate includes the mansion, a boathouse on the Intracoastal Waterway, an 'engineering−inventions' machine shop, and other outbuildings. The estate was built in the Harbor Oaks Residential District, Clearwater's first planned residential development, that was opened in 1914 by Dean Alvord, a major developer from New York. The development offered then-innovative features such as paved streets, curbs, and sidewalks, underground utility and sewer systems, and tree lined parkways. Other original Harbor Oaks residents included author Rex Beach, Brooklyn Dodgers owner Charles Ebbets, industrialist Robert Ingersoll, and members of the Studebaker, Proctor, and Gamble families. On December 19, 1979, the Donald Roebling Estate was added to the US National Register of Historic Places. The estate is also protected within the Harbor Oaks Historic District, established the following decade. National Register of Historic Places.com: Pinellas County listings website Florida Office of Cultural and Historical Programs.com: Pinellas County listings website Florida Office of Cultural and Historical Programs — organization website

Location

700 Orange Ave.
Clearwater, Pinellas County, Florida
27.95794, -82.80461

Categories

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTUREARCHITECTURESOCIAL HISTORYINVENTION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

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.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Harbor Oaks Residential District
Listed
0.1 mi
South Ward School
Industrial
0.3 mi
Pinellas County Courthouse, Old
Industrial
0.4 mi
Cleveland Street Post Office
Industrial
0.7 mi
Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church
Industrial
0.9 mi

Questions about this property

When was Roebling, Donald, Estate listed on the National Register?

Roebling, Donald, Estate was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 19, 1979.

What type of historic resource is Roebling, Donald, Estate?

Roebling, Donald, Estate is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Roebling, Donald, Estate?

The period of significance for Roebling, Donald, Estate is recorded as the industrial era.

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