Piece of Bayshore Boulevard history up for sale

TAMPA, Fla. - In 1901, when the Anderson-Frank home was completed just off Bayshore Boulevard, it was one of the first homes built in the neighborhood.

The Anderson family lived in the home at 341 S. Plant Avenue. Since then, it's gone through many changes.

Over the last century, the home has served as a Red Cross shelter, a woman's club, and marketing and law firms.

"It was originally built by a banker; a pinnacle of the community in those days," said Realtor Vince Simonetti. "It's a stunning example of a Victorian home."

But as Simonetti explained, the home hasn't lost its regal touch.

"Solid construction; brick, all the way up through three stories, granite corners, spectacular home with 12-foot ceilings, hardwood. I mean the pocket-doors in this place are spectacular," Simonetti said.

You could say the same about its original icebox – still intact from the turn of the century.

Simonetti explained how it works.

"What would happen is the iceman would deliver ice. There's an opening outside the home they could slide into this upper compartment, and each of the layers are open, so the cold air goes down and keeps the perishables in your icebox from spoiling," he said.

Even more interesting is what used to be on the third floor: A ballroom.

Once a place for the original owners to hold dance classes or acting lessons, it was also home to gowns belonging to Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana.

A former owner of the home, Maureen Daly, was a collector. She purchased Diana's gowns mere months before the princess's death in August 1997.

"The dresses were housed here in the early 2000s," Tomlin St Cyr Realtor Dawn Dominici said." There were 13 dresses in Maureen's collection. And most famously the dress that Diana wore when she danced with John Travolta at the White House."

It was a home fit for the dresses of a princess, and for Simonetti, the location is the crown jewel of Tampa.

"It's at the entrance of Davis Islands, walking distance to Hyde Park," Simonetti said. "From a proximity standpoint, it doesn't get any better than this in Tampa."

The home is currently owned by the Fiss family and serves as their residence and the family's law practice. It is listed on the market for $2.9 million.