Snell Arcade — St. Petersburg, Florida

The Snell Arcade, constructed between 1926 and 1928 at 405 Central Avenue, stands as St. Petersburg's foremost architecturally distinguished commercial landmark of the Florida land-boom era.

Overview

The Snell Arcade stands at 405 Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, at the corner of Central Avenue and 4th Street. The eight-story structure was constructed between 1926 and 1928 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 4, 1982, making it among the first buildings in St. Petersburg to receive that designation, according to Preserve the Burg. The building is also documented in Florida Memory records under an alternate name, the Rutland Building. Its program combined ground-floor retail, a basement cafeteria, upper-floor offices, and a rooftop restaurant — all served by a covered interior arcade that linked Central Avenue to the city's Open Air Post Office, as documented by the St. Petersburg Museum of History.

Address
405 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL
NPS Nomination Form, 1982
Construction Period
1926–1928
Florida Memory / NPS, 1982
NRHP Listed
November 4, 1982
National Register of Historic Places, 1982
Architect
Richard Kiehnel (Kiehnel and Elliott)
NPS Nomination Form, 1982
Stories
8
NPS Nomination Form, 1982
Residential Units (upper floors)
12 condominiums (converted 2003)
Preserve the Burg, 2003

Origin and Construction

The Snell Arcade was commissioned by C. Perry Snell, a real estate investor who shaped much of St. Petersburg's early residential landscape, including the development of Snell Isle, a residential district to the north of downtown. Developer Walter Fuller, as quoted by St. Pete Rising, described Snell as a man who deliberately impoverished himself in the pursuit of beauty — a characterization that frames the Snell Arcade as a monument to personal ambition as much as commercial calculation.

Construction of the building began in 1926, during the final years of Florida's land-boom decade. The 1920s had brought explosive population growth to St. Petersburg: by 1920, the city's population had already topped fourteen thousand, according to the St. Petersburg Museum of History, and the subsequent boom drove a wave of ambitious construction throughout downtown. The Snell Arcade was completed in 1928, by which point the broader Florida land bust was already taking hold, rendering it a conspicuous late monument to the era's ambitions.

Snell engaged architect Richard Kiehnel of the Miami-based firm Kiehnel and Elliott to design the building. According to the Preserve the Burg account, Kiehnel was an early aficionado of the Mediterranean Revival style in Florida and also designed the Rolyat Hotel in Tarpon Springs — a structure that later became the Stetson University College of Law. The Specialized Services Group further documents Snell's role as a real estate investor who shaped the city's residential neighborhoods before turning to this signature commercial commission.

Architecture and Design

The Snell Arcade blends Mediterranean Revival, Romanesque, and Gothic design elements across its eight-story facade. According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination form prepared in 1982, the building's exterior incorporates terra cotta ornamentation and Italianate finishing throughout — features consistent with the high decorative ambitions of the Mediterranean Revival movement as practiced in Florida during the 1920s.

The building's interior arcade was a functional civic element as well as an architectural one. As documented by the St. Petersburg Museum of History, the covered passageway connected the Central Avenue entrance to the city's Open Air Post Office, embedding the building into the daily circulation of downtown pedestrian life. The original program was layered vertically: a basement cafeteria, ground-floor retail along the arcade, a rooftop restaurant situated on the third-floor level, and office space occupying the floors above. St. Pete Rising documents the building's prominent position at the corner of 4th Street and Central Avenue as central to its civic identity from the outset.

Rehabilitation and Modern Use

By the mid-twentieth century, the Snell Arcade had undergone alterations that obscured elements of its original character. Around 1980, a rehabilitation effort reversed those changes, as documented in National Register records and detailed by Preserve the Burg. Two years later, on November 4, 1982, the building was formally listed on the National Register of Historic Places — among the first such designations in St. Petersburg, according to the same source.

Beginning in 2003, the upper floors of the Snell Arcade were converted into 12 residential condominiums, according to Preserve the Burg. Ground-floor retail and basement commercial space continued to operate after the residential conversion. As of 2025, St. Pete Rising reported that the building's approximately 9,240-square-foot basement was being transformed into a private social club called Medina 405, representing the latest phase of adaptive reuse within the century-old structure.

Civic Significance

The Snell Arcade occupies a distinct place in St. Petersburg's architectural and civic history. Its construction between 1926 and 1928 by C. Perry Snell and architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott produced one of the most formally ambitious commercial buildings erected in the city during the land-boom decade — and one of the few to survive largely intact into the twenty-first century. The building's National Register listing on November 4, 1982, formalized its status as a historically significant structure and, per Preserve the Burg, placed it among the earliest St. Petersburg properties to receive that federal recognition.

The arcade's original passageway function — linking a major commercial corridor to the city's Open Air Post Office, as recorded by the St. Petersburg Museum of History — illustrates how the building was conceived as an urban connector rather than a freestanding object. Kiehnel's application of Mediterranean Revival styling, blended with Romanesque and Gothic detailing documented in the NPS nomination form, situates the Snell Arcade within a broader pattern of Spanish and Italian Revival architecture that defined Florida's boom-era urban landscape. Approaching its centennial of construction, the building remains an active mixed-use address in downtown St. Petersburg, its ground-floor retail, residential condominiums, and basement commercial space continuing a program of layered urban use that dates to 1928.

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2023 https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs Used for: Population (260,646), median age (43.1), median household income ($73,118), median home value ($331,500), median gross rent ($1,542), housing units, owner/renter occupancy rates, poverty rate (11.7%), unemployment rate (4.9%), labor force participation (72.8%), educational attainment (26.1% bachelor's or higher)
  2. National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form: Snell Arcade (NPS, 1982) https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/82004237_text Used for: Snell Arcade listing date (November 4, 1982), architect Richard Kiehnel, architectural description including Mediterranean Revival, Romanesque and Gothic elements, terra cotta and Italianate finishing, building plan and alterations history
  3. C. Perry Snell: In the Pursuit of Beauty — St. Petersburg Museum of History https://spmoh.com/c-perry-snell-in-the-pursuit-of-beauty/ Used for: Snell Arcade original program (basement cafeteria, ground-floor retail, rooftop restaurant, office space, interior arcade passageway to Open Air Post Office); St. Petersburg's 1920s construction boom context; population topping fourteen thousand by 1920
  4. The Snell Building – If a Building Could Talk! — Preserve the Burg https://www.preservetheburg.org/blog/snell-building-if-building-could-talk Used for: Snell Arcade conversion to 12 residential condos starting 2003; Kiehnel as early aficionado of Mediterranean Revival in Florida; Kiehnel also designed Rolyat Hotel (now Stetson School of Law); 1980 rehabilitation reversing alterations; National Register designation among first in St. Petersburg
  5. Historically St. Pete: The Snell Arcade nears 100 years of prominence in downtown — St. Pete Rising https://stpeterising.com/home/historically-st-pete-the-snell-arcade-nears-100-years-of-prominence-in-downtown Used for: Walter Fuller quote about C. Perry Snell; architectural style description (Mediterranean Revival, Romanesque, Gothic); early history of 4th Street and Central Avenue corner
  6. Exclusive underground social club coming to the historic Snell Arcade — St. Pete Rising https://stpeterising.com/home/exclusive-underground-social-club-coming-to-the-historic-snell-arcade-in-downtown-st-pete Used for: Medina 405 private social club planned for Snell Arcade basement (9,240 sq ft); building constructed 1928 by Snell and Kiehnel
  7. Snell Arcade in St. Petersburg, Florida — Florida Memory (State Library and Archives of Florida) https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/259626 Used for: National Register of Historic Places listing date (November 4, 1982); also known as Rutland Building; built 1926
  8. On this day in Florida history — June 8, 1888: First train rolls into terminus 'St. Petersburg' — Florida History Network http://www.floridahistorynetwork.com/june-8-1888---first-train-rolls-into-terminus-st-petersburg.html Used for: Date of first Orange Belt Railway train arrival (June 8, 1888); Peter Demens background
  9. The Railroad Pier — Pier History — St. Petersburg Catalyst https://stpetecatalyst.com/pier-history/the-railroad-pier/ Used for: Orange Belt Railway arrival on Pinellas Peninsula; Peter Demens background; St. Petersburg founding and incorporation context
  10. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch Highlights Strength and Resilience at 2026 State of the City Address — City of St. Petersburg https://stpete.org/news_detail_T30_R1598.php Used for: Mayor Welch's five Pillars for Progress; hurricane recovery context; St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan and $750 million infrastructure investment target
  11. Mayor's Office — City of St. Petersburg official website https://www.stpete.org/government/mayor___city_council/mayor_s_office/index.php Used for: Mayor Ken Welch administration structure; Pillars for Progress framework; city government overview
  12. Historic Gas Plant District Redevelopment — City of St. Petersburg https://www.stpete.org/residents/current_projects/tropicana_field_site.php Used for: Gas Plant District redevelopment timeline (infrastructure construction 2025; phase one development late 2027/early 2028); Pinellas County Commission approval; Tropicana Field roof damage and repair obligation
  13. Helene & Milton Recovery — City of St. Petersburg https://www.stpete.org/residents/public_safety/hurricane_helene_recovery_assistance.php Used for: City's hurricane recovery permitting waivers; recovery assistance infrastructure
  14. St. Petersburg mayor on his focus to fulfill a promise to the Historic Gas Plant District — WUSF Public Media https://www.wusf.org/politics-issues/2026-03-04/florida-matters-st-petersburg-mayor-ken-welch-gas-plant-district-redevelopment-infrastructure-resilience Used for: Mayor Welch as city's first Black mayor; Gas Plant District displacement history; Hurricane Milton Tropicana Field roof damage; challenge as theme of first term
  15. Ken Welch delays historic Gas Plant district redevelopment timeline into 2026 — Florida Politics https://floridapolitics.com/archives/765332-ken-welch-delays-historic-gas-plant-district-redevelopment-timeline-into-2026/ Used for: $6.5 billion redevelopment plan from Rays and Hines Development selected in 2022; deal collapse after Hurricane Milton; revised timeline
  16. City of St. Pete awarded $159.8 million for hurricane recovery — St. Pete Rising https://stpeterising.com/home/city-of-st-pete-awarded-1598-million-to-support-recovery-effects-from-recent-hurricanes Used for: $159.8 million federal recovery funding via Sunrise St. Pete program
  17. St. Pete Mayor Outlines $600 Million Infrastructure Plan in State of the City Address — Q105 https://myq105.com/2026/02/23/st-pete-mayor-outlines-600-million-infrastructure-plan-in-state-of-the-city-address/ Used for: $600 million General Obligation bond referendum for sewer upgrades, flooding solutions, and infrastructure
  18. State of the City highlights 'impactful progress,' next steps — Power Broker Magazine https://powerbrokermagazine.com/state-of-the-city-highlights-impactful-progress-next-steps/ Used for: 89 resilience and infrastructure projects totaling $47.3 million completed in 2025, $5.7 million under budget; State of the City held at Palladium Theater; Poet Laureate Denzel Johnson-Green
  19. Dalí Museum in St. Pete, FL announces plans for major expansion — SeeGreatArt https://www.seegreatart.art/dali-museum-in-st-pete-fl-announces-plans-for-major-expansion/ Used for: Dalí Museum $1 billion-plus economic impact since 2011 building; collection size (over 2,400 works); Michelin Guide three-star designation
  20. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch Highlights Strength, Unity, and Resiliency at 2025 State of the City Address — City of St. Petersburg https://www.stpete.org/news_detail_T30_R1327.php Used for: $3.23 million city arts funding including $695,000 supplemental addition to offset state cuts; St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan framework; 2024 hurricane debris context
  21. St. Pete mayor highlights redeveloping historic Gas Plant District in State of City — FOX 13 Tampa Bay https://www.fox13news.com/news/key-questions-loom-over-rays-redevelopment-ahead-mayor-welchs-state-city-address Used for: City issued 15,635 permits after hurricanes with waived fees; $4.5 million in disaster relief and housing stabilization; $160 million Sunrise St. Pete program
  22. Snell Arcade — Specialized Services Group https://www.specializedservicesgroup.com/portfolio/snell-arcade/ Used for: Snell Arcade commissioned by C. Perry Snell as real estate investor who developed city's residential neighborhoods; designed by Richard Kiehnel; Mediterranean Revival style
Last updated: May 4, 2026