Greater Woodlawn Neighborhood

Greater Woodlawn Neighborhood

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AMENITIES/CHARACTER
The Woodlawn area is a middle class community on the north side of
St. Petersburg. It is bounded by 22nd Avenue on the south, 30th Avenue on
the north, 16th Street on the west, and 9th Street on the east. Within
these boundaries there are approximately 625 homes. The area is composed
of older homes from the 1920''s and more recently constructed homes from
the 1940''s and 1950''s. Throughout the years, Woodlawn has been recognized
for its cohesiveness and community pride. There is a unique sense of
community within this area that is rarely found in Florida. This
atmosphere has been likened to towns in the New England states, where
people know their neighbors and none is hesitant to say hello or lend a
helping hand. The majority of homes in the area are private residences
with a limited number of rentals interspersed throughout the area. The
area has one designated park and several shaded, open areas.
The community has both an active neighborhood association and crime
watch organization.

ARCHITECTURE
Architectural style in Greater Woodlawn is typical of residential
construction through St. Petersburg from the first half of the 20th
century. Many homes were built between 1910 and 1940 in the traditional
Bungalow, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and Frame or Masonry Vernacular
styles of architecture. There are also a few examples of the
Mediterranean Revival style, popular in the 1920''s, but not as many as in
other parts of St. Petersburg. Most homes are one-story, generally
containing between 2-3 bedrooms, although many two-story houses, with 3-4
bedrooms are scattered throughout the area. Mixed in with the older homes
are many houses typical of 1940 and 1950''s post-World War II construction.
These include concrete block and wood frame ranch style homes and modest
wood frame or concrete block Minimal Traditional style homes.
Commercial buildings are primarily found along 9th Street North and
include both historic and contemporary strucutres. One of the most
unusual is the 6-story Skyline building at the corner or 26th Avenue
North, built in the 1950''s. Designed by an out-of-town firm, and
inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright''s Guggenheim Museum in New York City, this
building has always been controversial but is well-known. It originally
featured a restaurant on the top floor with a wonderful view of St.
Petersburg. Wilson ''s Book Store and Memory Lane Antique Mall, also on
9th Street, occupy a former auto sales building originally designed in the
Art Deco style.
Two churches are within this neighborhood, the Woodlawn Presbyterian
Church, occupying a Mediterranean Revival style building, and the Open
Bible Church, featuring a contemporary structure. HISTORY
This half square mile neighborhood consists of 11 separate
subdivisions. The earliest subdivision, Map of Pinellas, Addition to St.
Petersburg, Florida, was platted in February of 1912 and consists of the
entire NE quadrant, with a park (today''s Blanc Park) at the corner.
Three more were platted in 1912, 1913, and 1920, occupying the SE
quadrant. Washington Heights, which occupies the west half of the NW
quadrant, was platted in 1914. The eastern half of this quadrant consists
of four subdivisions, three of which were platted in the 1920''s and onein 1950.
The Woodlawn Subdivision, which consists of the entire SW quadrant,
and for which the general area has been named due to the prominent
entrance pillars, was not platted until 1924. This land was owned and
developed by the Consolidated Development and Engineering Corporation,
whose president was the Col. Raymond C. Turk from Jacksonville, Florida.
Most of the earliest construction in the neighborhood was concentrated in
the SE quadrant, along 9th Street North (previously called Euclid
Boulevard) and along 16th Street North, north of 26th Avenue North. Early
maps also show that 38th Street was once called Johns Pass Road.

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