Historic Kenwood, Florida
When Aaron and I were down in Florida a few weeks ago, we had to go and visit the Historic Kenwood neighborhood in St. Petersburg for a little house voyeurism. Because we are naughty that way.
Whooo-ee! Look at the paint job on that bungalow! Hubba hubba!
Sweet! This baby's got some BIG pillars on her porch. Rrrrr-owr...
[wolf whistle] Come to Mama...
Oh! You little vixen, you! Be still my heart!
C'mon baby! Shake your palm trees like a polaroid picture!
(Okay. I'll stop now. Aaron is telling me that I sound like a weirdo.)
Anyway, Kenwood was pretty cool. It wasn't very easy to find, but once you stumble upon it, you know that you've found a really unique neighborhood. Reading their website, it seems that neighbors are very friendly and have a lot of fun together.
It seems that most of the historic bungalows had been rentals for decades and many of the architecturally significant porches had been closed up. Enter, Bob Jeffrey in the 1990's and other neighborhood pioneers who revived the neighborhood and its bungalows.
Here is an example of a bungalow that still has a "muddled" porch:
And some examples of porches which have been restored to their former glory:
We weren't able to spend a whole lot of time there, but the afternoon that we spent stalking the bungalows and taking pictures was quite enjoyable indeed. [wink]
If you want MORE, MORE, MORE, the Historic Kenwood site has a great photo section where you can gaze at bungalows all night if you want to. Knock yourself out, you crazy kids.
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Comments
My Mom’s cousin (I’ll let you decide my relation to her) had a great house in an old part of St. Pete. I only visited a few times, and I remember the backyard more than the house, but I recall the feeling…..it was one of being in another time. It was like old Cuba or Miami Beach in the 50s. I just loved that place. Her husband drove an old white Bentley. That may give you some idea of the house. The house and the car went together.
Posted by: Greg | April 7, 2007 12:51 AM
Sounds like you had to take a cold shower afterwards! ;)
We are doing the same thing to our front porch -- un-'muddling' it. Every time I pass an open bungalow porch I poke Don and go "Look! Look! Our porch is going to look like that!" I think he's getting a little tired of it. ;)
Posted by: jamaila | April 7, 2007 7:08 AM
Greg-I actually thought of you when we were walking around...all those really great paint jobs! That memory sounds cool.
Jamaila-Yes, a cold shower was needed :) And I LOVE open porches. I'm so jealous that you're gonna have one!
Posted by: jm | April 7, 2007 9:13 AM
Some of those paint jobs are awesome. I love the landscaping, too. Wish we could grow cool plants and trees like that up here! Thanks for sharing ;)
Posted by: mindy | April 7, 2007 9:41 AM
Makes me want to pack up and buy a Bungalow in Florida! The plants! The porches!
Incidentally, I saw your post that you will be up near my neck of the woods for the West Ridge Bungalow thing- very cool.
I doubt I'll be able to make it simply because all spare time is going for campaigning. I wil be glad when the election is over.
Posted by: Jocelyn | April 7, 2007 5:05 PM
I don't have an open porch, but I do live in Historic Kenwood. My front yard use to be lush with plants and flowering trees, but due to these water restrictions I've removed all the plants back to the bare ground and started adding more palm flowering trees. Once I gain some shade back I can replant many of the bromeliads. For now it will be dots of trees growing and mulch
Posted by: islandpete | May 21, 2007 8:30 PM