M. Leo Elliott (April 4, 1886 – August 1967) was an architect known for his work in Tampa,

Temple Terrace Temple Terrace is an incorporated city in northeastern Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, adjacent to Tampa. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 26,690. It is the third and smallest incorporated municipality in Hillsb ...

and

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

.M. LEO ELLIOT
Architectural History by Jules Gibson April 18th, 2012 Florida Homes Magazine His designs include the public buildings and first eight houses in the City of

Temple Terrace, Florida Temple Terrace is an incorporated city in northeastern Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, adjacent to Tampa. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 26,690. It is the third and smallest incorporated municipality in Hillsb ...

(1921), Ybor City's Centro Asturiano de Tampa, Old Tampa City Hall,

Osprey School The Osprey School is a historic school built in 1926 in Osprey, Florida. Described as being in a masonry vernacular architectural style, the school is located at 337 North Tamiami Trail. The entrance is flanked by two wings of classrooms. On July ...

, two buildings that were part of

Florida College Florida College is a private Christian college in Temple Terrace, Florida. It offers bachelor's and associate degrees. Founded as a junior college in 1946, Florida College now draws its staff, faculty, and the majority of its students from no ...

and the original Temple Terrace Estates, Masonic Temple No. 25 (1928), the 1920 addition to

Sarasota High School Sarasota High School is a public high school of the Sarasota County Public Schools in Sarasota, Florida, United States, a city on the Gulf of Mexico coast south of Tampa. The school colors are black and orange and the mascot is a sailor. Histo ...

(with T. A. Monk) and

Historic Spanish Point Historic Spanish Point is a museum and environmental complex located in Osprey, Florida at 337 North Tamiami Trail. The museum includes an archeological exhibit of a prehistoric shell mound known as a midden, a turn-of-the-century pioneer hom ...

. Several of the properties are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Elliott designed Grand Central Place, now home to

Mise En Place ''Mise en place'' () is a French culinary phrase which means "putting in place" or "gather". It refers to the setup required before cooking, and is often used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients (e.g., ...

. The Tampa Gas Co. (1931) building was also designed by Elliott, but was lost after a fight for preservation failed.Jared Leon
Temple Terrace group wants to restore 1920s building designed by M. Leo Elliott
December 11, 2009 Tampa bay Times He also designed the Leiman-Wilson house. Elliott is widely regarded as one of the finest architects in Tampa's history. Elliott was born in New York's Catskill Mountains in 1886. He came to Tampa from

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 20 ...

. He married Beth Thompson, daughter of N.O. and Mary Coe Thompson. They had two children: Shelia and M. Leo Jr. Elliott won first place in design competitions for the

Centro Asturiano Club 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. H ...

and

Tampa YMCA building 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 Count ...

.Tampa's Historic Cemeteries
Shelby Jean Roberson Bender, Elizabeth Laramie Dunham Arcadia Publishing, 2013 - History - 127 pages Pages 43, 108 On September 2, 1907, Elliott formed Bonfoey and Elliott with B. C. Bonfoey (February 27, 1872 - February 18, 1953) (Bayard Clayton Bonfoey). The firm is credited with designing Tampa City Hall and the

Centro Asturiano 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. Hi ...

(1914) at 1913 Nebraska Avenue. The partnership ended with the advent of World War I. Bonfoey is buried at

Myrtle Hill Memorial Park Myrtle Hill Memorial Park is a cemetery in Tampa, Florida, in the United States. It was established in 1917, and is located at 4207 East Lake Avenue. It is owned by Dignity Memorial. Notable graves * Gen. Paul DeWitt Adams (1906–1987), US Army ...

in Tampa. He was a Cpl Co F 1 Conn Inf SAW. Elliott set up his own firm, M. Leo Elliott Inc, in 1920. The firm had offices in Tampa, Sarasota and

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

Background

Elliott was born in

and attended Cooper Union. He trained with Welch, Smith & Provost in New York City and helped design buildings for the

Jamestown Exposition The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, it w ...

of 1907 in Norfolk, Virginia. He came to Tampa in 1907 and soon had success winning design competitions for buildings including the Centro Asturiano de Tampa. Elliott wrote in his own obituary that he was born April 4, 1886, in the Catskill Mountains of

and moved to New York City when he was 15. In the city he worked as an office clerk for an architectural firm. He eventually moved to Norfolk, Virginia where he designed buildings for the

. After the expo he moved to Tampa. Elliott retired in 1954 and died in 1967. Granddaughter Lynn Elliott Rydene is an interior designer in Tampa.

City of Temple Terrace

In 1922, Elliott designed the original Temple Terrace Country Club building (now part of

's campus known as Sutton Hall), the Florida College Student Center (originally the Club Morocco Nightclub and Casino), Real Estate Office (today the Temple Terrace Community Church), Chauffeurs Lodge and Garage, Greenskeepers House, Caddie Building, Spring House, Temple Terrace Grocery, Temple Terrace Service Station, Entry Tower gates, and the first eight villa residences for the original developers. All were designed in the Mediterranean Revival/Mission/Moorish architectural styles. The Temple Terrace Preservation Society has made efforts to preserve all of these through the creation of a Certified Local Government The Club Morocco was the hottest nightclub on the west coast of Florida in the 1920s. It was part of the original Temple Terrace Estates, one of the first

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonia ...

golf course planned communities in the United States (1921). According to the 1988 Temple Terrace Historic Resources Survey, both buildings are eligible for the

. In the 1930s, after the Florida economic collapse of 1926, the property and its buildings were acquired by the Florida Bible Institute from the City of Temple Terrace, and were then sold to the founders of Florida College.

Work

* Tampa City Hall (1915) at 315 John F. Kennedy Blvd (Bonfoey and Elliott) A 3-story building with an 8-story tower. Includes doric columns, balustrade, and terra-cotta detailing. Perhaps the finest of the architect M. Leo Elliott's commercial-municipal structures. National Register listed in 1974. * Henry Leiman House (1916) Tampa, Florida (Bonfoey & Elliott) * DeSoto County Courthouse (Florida) (Bonfoey & Elliott) * Centro Asturiano de Tampa (1914) (Bonfoey & Elliot) *

L'Unione Italiana L'Unione Italiana, The Italian Club, is a historic social society in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood. The group's building was designed by Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott. It is located at 1731 East Seventh Avenue. History Originally founded as a ...

(Italian Club) (1917), Tampa (Bonfoey & Elliott) * South Side Elementary at 1901 Webber Street in Sarasota (listed on the National Register * Tampa YMCA (1909) * Sutton Hall (originally Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club) (1922) * Student Center (originally the Club Morocco Nightclub and Casino) (1926) * Temple Terrace Community Church (formerly the Temple Terrace Estates Real Estate Office) (1922) *

(1926), leased to the

Ringling College of Art and Design Ringling College of Art and Design (RCAD) is a private art and design school in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded by Ludd M. Spivey as an art school in 1931 as a remote branch of Southern College but separated by 1933. History The origins of ...

for the Visual Arts Education Center and the Sarasota Museum of Art. *

Old Frostproof High School The Old Frostproof High School (also known as the Frostproof City Hall) is a historic school in Frostproof, Florida. It is located at 111 West 1st Street. On November 13, 1997, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places T ...

(1926) * American First National Bank building at 1330 Main Street in Sarasota. The second skyscraper in Sarasota. Added to the National Historic Register in 1998. *

Circulo Cubano de Tampa El Circulo Cubano de Tampa (also known as the Cuban Club) is a historic building constructed in 1917 (to replace an earlier structure on the same site that burned down) to serve as a gathering place for Cuban immigrants in Ybor City, Tampa, Flor ...

(Cuban Club) * Masonic Temple No. 25 (1928) The cornerstone of current building housing Hillsborough Lodge No. 25 Free & Accepted Masons was laid on June 18, 1928, by the Most Worshipful Grand Master of Florida, Cary B. Fish. The Lodge was constructed at its current location in Downtown Tampa, on the corner of East Kennedy Boulevard and Morgan Street. The first Masonic Lodge meeting in the new Temple was called on February 19, 1929. On September 11, 1986, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Brother Malachi Leo Elliot was a member of the Masonic Lodge. * Wauchula City Hall, auditorium, and fire station on East Main Street in Wauchula, Hardee County, FL. *

Bradenton Bank and Trust Company Building The Bradenton Bank and Trust Company, built during the height of the Florida land boom and now known as the Professional Building, is a historic 7-story commercial building located at 1023 Manatee Avenue West, just east of the Manatee County Cou ...

(1926)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, M. Leo 1886 births 1967 deaths Architects from Florida People from Woodstock, New York Cooper Union alumni

Background

City of Temple Terrace

Work

See also

References