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Restoring glory to the Heights

By Elizabeth Bettendorf
Published November 3, 2006

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - When Eric Krause begins renovating a large, 1920s bungalow in Seminole Heights in a few weeks, it will feel all too familiar: it's his fifth redo in the history-rich neighborhood just minutes from downtown Tampa.

Krause, an interior decorator by trade whose work appeared this year in the Florida Orchestra Show House in Beach Park, remains undeterred by the softening real estate market.

The 33-year-old calls Seminole Heights, "a good safe bet because people will always want to live in a historic neighborhood."

Krause, who is as handy as he is aesthetic, has been renovating houses since his early 20s.

And he's not a wealthy real estate developer.

His first rehab effort was a South Tampa triplex he bought in 1997 to restore and rent out while he lived in one of the units.

In 2001, he bought a house in Seminole Heights, a neighborhood he fell in love with for its strong historic character, chummy sense of neighborhood and plethora of bungalows. The 980-square-foot bungalow, believed to have been built in the 1920s, "was the biggest small house I'd ever been in," he recalls. "It was very, very comfortable with nice-size bedrooms."

His mother, on the other hand, "wouldn't come in" at first - at least until it had been renovated. "She said, 'What have you done?' " he recalls, laughing. "Later, she told me that I had vision."

The little historic house, which sported school-bus-yellow shutters and matching trim, was in dilapidated condition and needed a full gutting.

By the time Krause was finished refurbishing and decorating, he was asked to open the bungalow for the neighborhood's popular home tour.

He went on to redo what was then known as "The Blue House," a 1939, 2,400-square-foot Tudor-style landmark along Central Avenue in Seminole Heights.

"The Blue House wasn't super run-down," he says. "It needed a lot of cosmetic work, but structurally it was a great house."

While he was at it, he bought and refurbished the bungalow next door.

Two houses at once?

Well, it can be hard, Krause admits: "You get used to having no clean surfaces to sit on, very limited plumbing and having to carry your necessities from room to room."

When ripped-up floors and limited plumbing make his houses unlivable, he relies on generous friends who loan him their spare bedrooms.

After selling the Blue House and the bungalow next door, he embarked on another Seminole Heights restoration: an old 1,280-square-foot California-style bungalow.

For starters, he painted it a shade of mossy arts-and-crafts era bronze, a color that worked well on the tree-canopied lot. Inside, he gave it his signature style: a rich, historic look with modern conveniences. Among other things, he stripped and dyed the oak floors and doors a shade of black, removed the exterior siding, added a restored claw-foot tub to one of the bathrooms and matched the porcelain hexagonal tile exactly with a modern reproduction.

He even added on an extra bathroom and transformed the kitchen. All in just one year.

Now, he moves on to his next renovation project: another spacious 1920s bungalow, again in Seminole Heights.

He plans to stay in it awhile, a decision that has nothing to do with the fickle real estate market but because he believes in the area. He has no doubt real estate values will continue to rise because of the neighborhood's legendary historic beauty as well as its ability to attract businesses like Starbucks, always a lucky charm.

And it doesn't hurt to love old houses, said Krause, who grew up in an old farmhouse in Wisconsin. "I guess you could just say I'm restoring Seminole Heights house by house."

Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com

[Last modified November 2, 2006, 08:45:21]