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Think of every new townhome, office and commercial building that has gone up in South Tampa over the past few years. Most of them have a certain thing in common, don't they?
Can you guess what it is?
Let's just say it's a Med, Med, Med, Med World in South Tampa.
The Mediterranean look. Stucco walls. Peach or tan colors. Barrel tile roofs, like you see atop La Quinta Inns. They're claiming all manner of new construction from Ballast Point to Westshore to North Hyde Park.
Houses. Townhomes. Offices. Commercial buildings.
Even old buildings in different architectural styles are getting Mediterranean make-overs. The former Palma Ceia Lodge No. 290 on MacDill Avenue and Hyde Park Professional Center on Swann Avenue are among recent examples.
It's getting to be a bit much.
"I do think it's being overdone, even though it's a style I like," said Stephanie Ferrell, a Tampa architect who specializes in historic designs.
"It's taking on a homogenous look that's not relevant to anything," said Del Acosta, Tampa's historic preservation manager.
South Tampa architect Jeff Conner has been designing Mediterranean buildings for 25 years. While he agrees that there's a lot of it going around, he doesn't think there's too much, "because it's appropriate for Florida," he said.
Got to give him that. Termite-proof concrete and stucco are the style's primary materials and very common in these parts. Heavy reliance on windows, shade-providing porticos, colonnades and even courtyards make sense in a warm climate.
Mediterranean designs have a history here. Acosta says they likely first appeared in Tampa in the early 1920s. Davis Islands was originally under deed restrictions that excluded any other architectural style.
But something happened between then and now. Something transformed a highly romantic style imported from the subtropical shores of the Mediterranean Sea, writ large and fantastical on the screens of Hollywood's Golden Age, to a diluted building style that's pockmarking the face of South Tampa with me-too examples of mediocrity.
Conner maintains there's still good Mediterranean architecture being built these days, as well as bad.
He suspects the latter has evolved as a result of uninformed designers trying to apply the style to commercial and office building applications.
That's when factors such as parking, ingress and egress, and designs that favor interior concerns over exterior muck up Mediterranean's classic hallmarks: vertical orientation, symmetrical design elements amid an asymmetrical framework, properly proportioned columns, arches and windows.
"A lot of contractors think if you use stucco and barrel tile, you've got it licked," said Ferrell.
So, do we know the difference between good Med and McMed?
We better. Because the solution to the problem could very well be in our hands.
"I think we've got to let the public make that decision," said Gary Cohen, co-president of ABC Capital Corp., a South Tampa developer. He has built several Mediterranean style office and townhome projects in South Tampa and plans to build several more.
"I think there's great acceptance with the public, and as long as the public responds to the Mediterranean style, it will continue to be built," he said.
Good Med. Authentic Med. Ask for it by name.
Or better yet, demand another architectural style. Something snappy, something that will give Tampa a unique face and distinguish it from other Florida cities.
Good thing Art Deco hasn't been thought of yet.
- Michael Canning is a Tampa freelance writer who regularly covers commercial development for his City Times column, Everybody's Business.