Fred J. James was an American architect born in Canada. He came to Florida some time around 1885. He had an office in the Citizens Bank Building in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, Florida. He designed

El Centro Español of West Tampa El Centro Español of West Tampa is a historic site in the West Tampa, Florida, West Tampa neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States. It is located at 2306 North Howard Avenue (Tampa). It was designed by Fred J. James. On July ...

. James designed a Carnegie Library, the Tampa Free Library, constructed in 1915-17, that was Tampa's main library until 1968. It includes a T-plan, masonry, brown and yellow brick atop a rusticated granite basement, and is topped by a barrel tile roof. It has been known as the Old Tampa Free Public Library, the Exceptional Children Education Center is now being used for Tampa's Business and Community Services Department. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. James designed the R.O. Richards building (1923), also known as the Pythian Building, in

Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

in 1923 at 1615 Hendry Street for R. O. Richards, President of the state pharmacy board and a key figure in getting Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics to come to Fort Myers in 1924. It housed the Royal Palm Pharmacy. James was also involved in the design of the Thom McAn (1927) on Franklin Street in Tampa. He designed the 2-story

LeClaire Apartments The LeClaire Apartments is a historic apartment building in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is located at 3013 through 3015 San Carlos Street. It was designed by Tampa architect Fred J. James. On November 16, 1988, it was added to the U.S. Nat ...

(1926) at 3013-3015 San Carlos in a Masonry Vernacular style. The building has two mirror-image wings connected by a passage on the second floor and includes a stucco-covered arcade. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.Hillsborough County
Historical Reports, Florida's History Through Its Places, Florida Department of Historical Resources

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