El Centro Español de Tampa
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El Centro Español de Tampa
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El Centro Español de Tampa, 7th Avenue, Ybor City.
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| Location | 1526–1536 East 7th Avenue Tampa Hillsborough County  FloridaUSA |
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| Coordinates | 27°57′36.91″N 82°26′32.22″W / 27.9602528°N 82.4422833°WCoordinates: 27°57′36.91″N 82°26′32.22″W / 27.9602528°N 82.4422833°W |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1912 |
| Architect | Francis J. Kennard |
| Architectural style |
French Renaissance Revival with Moorish and Spanish influences |
| Part of |
Ybor City Historic District (#74000641) |
| NRHP Reference # | 88001823 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 3, 1988 |
| Designated NHL | June 3, 1988 |
| Designated NHLDCP |
December 4, 1990 |
For the similarly named building in West Tampa see El Centro Español of West Tampa
El Centro Español de Tampa is a historic building in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, in the U.S. state of Florida. Built as an ethnic and cultural clubhouse in 1912, the red brick structure situated at 1526–1536 East 7th Avenue is today part of a shopping and entertainment complex. It remains one of the few surviving structures specific to Spanish immigration to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a legacy which garnered the Centro Español building recognition as a U.S. National Historic Landmark (NHL) on June 3, 1988. El Centro Español de Tampa is one of two individual structures within Hillsborough County to be so designated.
The historic and cultural significance of El Centro Español de Tampa was noted well before the announcement of its NHL status. As early as 1974, the building was included by the National Register of Historic Places as one of the Contributing Properites within the Ybor City Historic District. The building remains an important component of the district, which on December 4, 1990, gained more distinct recognition as a National Historic Landmark District. It is now home to Jason Fernandez's restaurant Carne.
Immigrants from Spain (including some by way of Cuba) to the bustling factory town of Ybor City in 1891 established El Centro Español as the first of several ethnic social club and mutual aid society organizations. El Centro Español served as the organizational model for its later counterparts such as El Centro Asturiano, El Circulo Cubano, L'Unione Italiana, and others. These clubs grew to play vital roles in Ybor City's development and were of particular importance in welcoming and orienting new arrivals to the immigrant community. In exchange for membership dues, they offered not only social, cultural, and recreational opportunities, but educational programs and health care. El Centro Español in 1904 went so far as to build their own hospital, the Sanatorio del Centro Español, which was in its day among the top medical facilities in Florida.
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