The Mirasol: Celebrating 100 Years of Davis Islands’ Enduring Landmark

Davis Islands was conceived as a tropical paradise. Vibrant landscaping, exotic architecture and a wide variety of amenities awaited residents and visitors alike. To accommodate as many people as possible, David Paul Davis included a number of hotels and apartment buildings for tourists as well as the islands’ seasonal and year-round residents. By placing these larger structures along Davis Boulevard (at least for the most part), he also created steady traffic for the commercial district on East Davis Boulevard and a buffer for the single-family homes in the interior that he saw as the lifeblood of the islands. That layout was recognized in 1927 when the Davis Islands plan won first prize in a competition sponsored by the American Association of City Planners.

Perhaps the most significant — and certainly the largest — of the buildings to be completed on Davis Islands is the Mirasol. Originally opened as a hotel, along with the Palace of Florence, the Palmarin Hotel (now known as Hudson Manor) and the since-demolished Biscayne Hotel, the Mirasol featured a large lobby, restaurant, rooftop garden and small marina, along with a handful of rental apartments. The hotel’s construction was covered nearly daily by the Tampa newspapers, with the building’s cost ($750,000; nearly $14 million in today’s dollars) and architect (Miami’s Martin L. Hampton along with Tampa architect Franklin O. Adams) listed as constant reminders of the hotel’s importance to the overall Davis Islands project.

The Mirasol opened in late April 1926, just as the bottom was beginning to fall out of the Florida land boom. Davis’ attention, by this time, had been redirected to his Davis Shores project in St. Augustine. Still, the Mirasol’s opening was hailed as a great achievement. The restaurant, located in the southern tower, was advertised as one of the city’s best, and the views from the rooftop garden were nothing short of exquisite. The overall design of the hotel, however, was a bit smaller than originally planned. In addition, a larger hotel to be located at the end of Biscayne Boulevard on the western end of the islands never materialized. Both of these facts are attributed to the slowdown occurring in Florida real estate in late 1925 and early 1926.

The Mirasol’s marina was popular from the start, but its small size and the limited access allowed by the narrow canal kept it from growing too much. The worsening economic conditions in Florida contributed to that as well. By September 1926, Davis had sold Davis Islands to the Stone & Webster firm in Boston, and the next month he drowned after falling overboard from an ocean liner on his way to Europe. The land boom bubble was bursting, and Florida was leading the rest of the country toward the Great Depression.

With the bust came a transition throughout the state, which played out as well in Tampa and on Davis Islands. Many of the hotel buildings constructed during the 1920s were converted to apartment buildings. The Bayshore Royal was one of those conversions, as were the Mirasol, Palace of Florence, Palmerin and Biscayne hotels on the islands. Overall, the number of renters skyrocketed as people lost their homes because of unpaid taxes and abandoned mortgages.

During World War II, the Mirasol was filled with servicemen training at MacDill and Drew fields. Following the war, the restaurant reopened to the public and even held an elaborate Thanksgiving dinner in 1946 (four courses for $2!).

Though unintentional, the overall change from hotel to apartments benefited — and actually saved — many of these buildings from the 1920s. The condominium craze that began in the 1960s swept up a lot of these properties (including the Bayshore Royal), but others remained as rentals — both short-term and long-term. On Davis Islands, the old buildings were joined by a rush of new construction, with new apartment buildings of all sizes spreading along Davis Boulevard — following the plan established by Davis and his planners in the 1920s — as well as the northern sections of Danube and Columbia.

The Mirasol survived throughout all of these changes and still stands today as a testament to Davis’ vision and the heady days of the Florida land boom. Like nearly all of the buildings on Davis Islands — certainly the ones built in the 20th century — it sustained extensive damage during the 2024 hurricane season. The current owners devoted more time and energy into its repair, and the grand Mirasol is once again a shining example of what preservation — and perseverance — can accomplish.

Rodney Kite-Powell is a Tampa-born author, the official historian of Hillsborough County and the director of the Touchton Map Library at the Tampa Bay History Center, where he has worked since 1995. 

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