2312 West Laurel Street (House), Tampa, Hillsborough County, FL

Significance: This building's architectural and historical significance is derived from its contribution to the West Tampa National Register Historic District. It is a relatively unaltered example of the bungalow residence popular in West Tampa in the 1920s. This house retains its characteristic Bungalow style front porch with battered cast concrete columns resting on decorative brick half-piers. The city of West Tampa was established in 1895 as a community adjacent to, but separate from, the City of Tampa and remained an incorporated city for thirty years. Like Ybor City, West Tampa was originally developed to promote the cigar industry in Tampa. In 1887, a group of Tampa businessmen, led by Tampa lawyer Hugh C. Macfarlane, began to promote the area west of the Hillsborough River as a possible location for a second cigar manufacturing center. They were successful as cigar factories, social clubs, schools, residences, commercial buildings and other public institutions were constructed. Most of the housing consisted of wood frame vernacular rowhouses and bungalows. This house is a good example of the Bungalow style commonly found in West Tampa.
Survey number: HABS FL-484
Building/structure dates: 1928 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 83003539