TAMPA, Fla. -- The battle over the status of the historic Stovall House along Bayshore Boulevard ended when the Tampa City Council votes to rezone the property to allow commercial activity.
The proposal caused outrage among locals who fear converting the house into a social club will disrupt the peace of the neighborhood.
However, Blake Casper, the businessman behind the proposal, says the house will be less of a party place and more of a quiet, social dinner club.
Casper is also behind the popular upscale Oxford Exchange on Kennedy in Tampa.
.Florida Brewing Company manager L.T. Trousdale built the Stovall House in 1909. The house is one of the oldest examples of Classical Revival architecture in the Tampa Bay area.
The original publisher of the Tampa Tribune, Wallace Stovall, bought the home from Trousdale and owned it until 1943.
For the next 48 years, the house changed ownership twice before former Coca-Cola executive Harry Teasley bought it.
In 2018, Tate and Blake Casper bought the Stovall House. The two lay out their vision for the historic home on the Stovall House website.
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