Centro Asturiano de Tampa
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| Centro Asturiano de Tampa | |
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| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
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| Location: | Ybor City, Tampa, Florida |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Added to NRHP: | July 24, 1974 |
The Centro Asturiano is a historic site in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida. It is located at 1913 Nebraska Avenue. On July 24, 1974, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott.
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[edit] History and Culture
The Centro Asturiano de Tampa (Centro) is a social club for immigrants and the descendants of immigrants from Asturias, Spain. Historically, a hospital, cemetery and health insurance all came with membership, and the purpose of the club was to take care of members from before birth until after they died. Currently, the hospital is not in use but is being renovated, and all that remains of the old Centro is the social aspect and the cemetery.
The Centro is one of many Centros Asturainos that span Spain, the US, and the world.
In the late 1880’s most of the traffic from Spain to the Americas consisted of bachelors going to Havana, Cuba looking for work. Those men who were married often immigrated alone, only to send for their families once well established in their new homeland. In Havana, there were many organizations, representing various regions of Spain, whose sole mission was to provide health assistance and “a little taste of home” for their members. The Centro Austriano de La Habana was founded on May 2, 1886 to provide medical assistance, social activities, education, and recreational opportunities.
The cigar industry soon established many factories in Tampa that brought a wave of new immigrants from Spain, but especially from Cuba. At the time, US immigration law restricted immigration from Europe, but not from Cuba. Antonio Gonzales Prado, the first president of the Havana club, traveled to Tampa at the end of the century and was appointed chair of a committee whose purpose was to rectify the problem of no health care for the cigar workers. A social club already established in Tampa, El Centro Español de Tampa, made a brief but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at creating a health care system. Approval from the parent club in Havana for the new branch was crucial. Cigar manufacturers, local doctors and pharmacists had formed the Latin Medical Association to prevent the new club’s creation. The name of the club was official changed to The Centro Asturiano de Tampa, Inc. in 1968.
[edit] The Hospital
At a meeting on March 24, 1902, Dr. G.H. Altree volunteered to be medical director for the new club. He offered the use of his clinic and sanitarium to Centro members in need of medical attention. By 1903, the society had grown so large that hotel space was leased to keep up with the growing medical needs until the first Covandong Sanitarium was opened in 1905; it boasted 54 beds. In 1927, a Second Covadonga Hospital was opened. Keeping with the strongly Catholic membership of the club, both buildings were named after the Virgin of Covadonga, when Our Lady Mary appeared in the 8th century, at the beginning of an extensive reconquest to free the Iberian Peninsula from Moorish rule.
In 1956, the Centro Asturiano Hospital, Inc was chartered and all facilities transferred to the new corporation. This was done so the hospital could qualify for federal funds and grants from private corporations.
[edit] The Cemetery
In 1909 a cemetery for members and the family of members was opened. The city of Tampa donated the land after the club inquired after the possibility of buying it. In 1942 the Centro Asturiano Memorial Park was established. Originally constructed in 1970, the mausoleum’s most recent enlargement was completed in 1998. Antonio Gonzales Prado, the founder, is buried in the cemetery.
[edit] Now
Membership declined following the close of the hospital in 1990. The main focus of the club has shifted from medical care, its original purpose, to preserving the history of the club and its members and to a more social function.
The current building, which has been in use since 1914, originally boasted a recreational floor, a floor largely devoted to study, and a party floor. The first floor hosted a gymnasium, a cantina for card, chess, and domino games (the space is now rented by an outside restaurant), a billiard room with five tables, and a three lane bowling alley that has been converted into a kitchen for the restaurant. The second floor holds offices for the club administrators, an extensive library, several reading and educational rooms, a smoking room, ladies parlor and dressing lounge and the auditorium and stage. The third floor houses the balcony of the theatre and a large ballroom. The ballroom was and still is, to a lesser extent, used for public dances that were a main social interaction between young club members or their children. Many of the current club members met their spouses at a dance at the Centro. The ballroom also houses private parties such as birthdays, wedding receptions, anniversaries, and many other celebrations. When the building was opened in 1914, the Tampa Daily Times ran an article on the architecture and features of the new club headquarters: “It is a monument to the memory of those who have devoted their best endeavors to the welfare of the institution, and a palace to those who stand faithful to its noble ideals” (May 16, 1914).
[edit] References and external links
- Hillsborough County listings at National Register of Historic Places
- Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
- Centro Asturiano de Tampa
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