Leaders to designate Tampa home that belonged to successful Black entrepreneur as local historic landmark
TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa City Council recently voted to designate a home – which belonged to a successful Black entrepreneur in the 1920s – as a local historic landmark.
The backstory:
In the 1920s, Richard Doby and his family lived at 1405 W. Azeele St., according to the city. Doby ran an ice delivery business and later, a trash collection service. But he also donated land to serve his thriving community of roughly 3,000 Black residents. That land would later become the West Hyde Park Grammar School and Zion Cemetery. The neighborhood was known as Dobyville.
RELATED: Some residents push to add 'Dobyville' to Hyde Park's historic district
"It started off as a neighborhood of Black residents, many of whom worked in the homes of the white residents in the south part of Hyde Park," Tampa Bay History Center’s Rodney Kite-Powell told FOX 13.
Zion Cemetery was later built over and "is now kind of underneath the Robles Park Apartments on Florida Ave.," Kite-Powell said. Meanwhile, the school, which was later called the Dobyville School, remained open until 1966, when it "was demolished to facilitate the construction of the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway, as were many of the neighborhood’s homes and businesses," according to a presentation by the city.
"Really tore through the western section of Hyde Park and then through Dobyville. I believe I read about 14 blocks of the Dobyville section of the neighborhood were demolished. That was very common with road construction at that time," Kite-Powell added.
Local perspective:
Fast-forward to the year 2020, when Tara Nelan bought 1405 West Azeele Street. She told FOX 13 she was first drawn to the home’s front porch, and while she was familiar with the neighborhood’s history, she didn’t know Doby lived in the house until she did more research over the pandemic.
"It's just an honor to be part of the story, right?" Nelan said. "To be able to work to keep the Doby family and Richard Doby’s contributions to the city of Tampa a part of the city of Tampa in the history."
Nelan submitted an application to the city, asking to make the Doby House, which was built in 1912, a local historic landmark.
What they're saying:
"What’s happening in this neighborhood is a lot of these old houses have been torn down. And then people are building huge houses there," Tampa city councilman Bill Carlson said as council discussed the Doby House during its Jan. 23 meeting.
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At its meeting last Thursday, Tampa City Council voted yes to protecting this house from demolition and to preserving the Doby history.
"It provides another layer of protection in case a demolition permit would be pulled or any kind of heavy alterations to it," Kite-Powell said of the designation.
At city council’s Jan. 23 meeting, Dennis Fernandez, the manager for the city’s architectural review and historic preservation, told council that in his 24 years, there has only been one building that was locally landmarked that "had to be demolished and that was because of condition."
"Dobyville is such a significant part of our history," city council chair Guido Maniscalco said. "I know some of the relatives. They’re still here. And it’s such a significant structure."
Dig deeper:
In 2023, the Local Hyde Park Historic District was expanded to include the portion of Dobyville south of the Crosstown Expressway, which includes the Doby House.
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