A 3,000-square-foot, two-story addition will be built on the north side of the Manhattan Casino.
By JON WILSON
Published December 24, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - A restored Manhattan Casino is scheduled to reopen in May 2005 with an addition making the historic building 25 percent larger.
A renovated, second-floor dance hall and revived first-floor storefronts will return the Manhattan to a state resembling its heyday as the commercial and entertainment center of 22nd Street S, city plans suggest.
The 3,000-square-foot, two-story addition will be built on the 78-year-old building's north side and will be connected to it by an elevated walkway, according to the plans.
The annex will house lobbies, restrooms, an elevator and rooms for storage, mechanical components and electrical systems.
"The main idea is to get some of the functions out of the casino that would have limited the square footage of the ballroom," said Rick Smith, historic preservation planner. "By building this new building, we're able to keep intact the existing (space) upstairs."
The city-owned building, currently 12,000 square feet equally divided upstairs and down, is at 642 22nd St. S. The City Council named it a local landmark in 1994 because of its history as a showcase for the nation's best jazz, blues and gospel artists.
It is seen now as a major element in the revival of 22nd Street, once the cultural locus of African-Americans in St. Petersburg.
Plans for the $2.3-million Manhattan renovation include a new roof with rooftop air-conditioning. Second-floor windows, sealed for years, will be reopened. Painted stucco on all sides will replace the original stucco. Windows and doors will replace a non-original service doorway.
False openings on the building's rear will suggest the location of a second-floor balcony, once used as a vantage point for youngsters who climbed it to see the likes of Louis Armstrong.
Crews will install an equipment yard at the building's southeast corner. The sign frame - nonhistoric because it was added in 1964, planners say - will move to the addition's front.
Building contracts are expected to be awarded in May, with construction due to start in June, according to the project schedule.
The Historic Preservation Commission on Dec. 16 voted 8-0 to build the addition. No serious qualms emerged about adding an element to a landmark.
The addition allows a solution to safety and disabled-access issues, said commissioner Jeff Danner, and paves the way to replicate the building's historic use.
City records show the original structure's building permit was issued Jan. 5, 1925, for Elder Jordan, an African-American pioneer. The building was to contain six apartments and a garage, records show. A service station permit was added four months later.
Through the years, entrepreneurs developed a variety of storefronts. Grocer David Rothblatt was issued a permit June 17, 1929, for example.
Rothblatt was one of several Jewish businessmen who opened storefronts on 22nd Street S when 1920s prejudice made it difficult to open on boomtime Central Avenue.
Among others were dry good merchants Maurice Goldstein and confectioner Morris Feldman, according to 1929 records.
African-Americans such as clothier Peter Perkins also opened. The dance hall, the Manhattan Casino's forerunner, emerged in the early 1930s.
A ghostly reminder of another of the building's earliest uses remains on its south facade. Dr. William B. Lingo's hand-lettered sign can barely be discerned.
A white doctor, Lingo opened an office during the late 1920s. He had another at 11 Fourth St. N, in downtown's heart.
Lingo came here from Atlanta in 1918, according to his 1966 obituary.
In it, he was described as a philanthropist and educator who had both medical and law degrees and was a registered pharmacist.
He was known for offering "paid" receipts at Christmas to people who couldn't pay their bills.
