Samuel H. Kress: More than 100 years later, Kress' name still adorns an ornate - but empty - landmark.
By ROB BRANNON
Published November 7, 2003
Samuel H. Kress isn't from Tampa. His European tastes and nationwide philanthropy took him to far greater places than sweltering early 20th-century Florida.
But Kress' name adorns one of Tampa's most recognizable and ornate downtown landmarks. On Florida Avenue and Cass Street, the four-story Kress building features bronze marquees, coats of arms and a terra-cotta Renaissance Revival facade. It stands in stark contrast to the modern federal courthouse skyscraper across the street.
The Kress building used to be a five-and-dime store. But the history goes deeper than that. The owner and architect created the building as a piece of art, a symbol of old America, when life bustled around main streets and malls were decades away.
Kress was born in 1863, one of seven children of a Pennsylvania coal-mining supervisor. In 1896, he opened his first store in Memphis, Tenn. He would eventually own about 400 stores, including nine in Florida.
Kress was an art lover and donated more than 3,000 European works to museums across the United States, rather than a single collection. In 1945, a decade before his death, he was elected president of the National Gallery of Art.
Kress opened the first Tampa store on Franklin Street in 1900. In 1908, he relocated to a building on Florida.
In 1929, just before the Great Depression, he demolished the structure and replaced it with the building that stands today.
Kress' team of architects designed each store to stand out - while also fitting in - on a city's main street. Tampa's store blended with the traditional main street look. Miami's featured pastel colors and architecture characteristic of that city.
Inside the buildings, Kress created a new kind of shopping experience, complete with wide, heavily stocked aisles and easy checkouts, a blueprint for modern department stores.
Genesco Inc. bought Kress in 1964. Competition from strip malls hurt the business, however, and S.H. Kress and Co. was liquidated in 1980.
Tampa's store made its way onto the National Register of Historic Places. But, like many historic buildings, it sits unused and decaying. Sheets of plywood surround the ground floor, blocking views of coffered ceilings and elaborate moldings.
