St. Petersburg Landmarks Guide: The Pier, Sunken Gardens, the Vinoy, the Snell Arcade and the Historic Registers

The city list of St. Petersburg National Register properties, dated March 2022, holds more than 30 entries, among them the Vinoy Park Hotel, the Snell Arcade and the downtown historic district (City of St. Petersburg National Register list).

The list runs from the Weeden Island Site, listed in 1972, to five listings added in 2019. Entries include the U.S. Post Office at 1st Ave N and 4th St N, listed April 1975; the Vinoy Park Hotel at 501 5th Ave NE, September 1978; the Snell Arcade at 405 Central Ave, November 1982; and Huggins-Stengel Field at 1320 5th St N, August 2019 (National Register list). The Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District, listed April 2004, takes in the blocks bounded by 5th Ave N, Beach Dr NE, Central Ave and 9th St N.

The National Park Service runs the National Register, and a listing places no limits on what a private owner does with a building unless federal money is part of the project (City of St. Petersburg Historic Preservation). Unlike National Register listing, St. Petersburg local landmark designation gives a degree of protection, as the next section explains.

A St. Petersburg local landmark is a property on the St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places, a program run by city staff that gives designated buildings a degree of protection from unnecessary demolition or unsympathetic alterations (City of St. Petersburg Historic Preservation).

City preservation staff review proposed work on designated St. Petersburg properties and issue Certificates of Appropriateness, and qualifying historic properties can get streamlined design review for certain rehabilitation or restoration projects, plus compatibility input and historic research at no additional cost (Historic Preservation). City Code also authorizes a list of properties potentially eligible for local landmark designation, meant to protect them from the threat of demolition.

The local list runs from 1986 to the present and includes the Vinoy Park Hotel in May 1986, the Snell Arcade in June 1986, the Coliseum at 535 Fourth Ave N in September 1994, the Manhattan Casino at 642 22nd St S in December 1994 and Turner's Sunken Gardens at 1825 Fourth St N in May 1998 (St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places).

St. Petersburg preservation questions go to the Planning and Historic Preservation Division at One 4th Street N, 1st Floor, by email at [email protected], or to a historic preservationist at 727-892-5470 (Historic Preservation). City Council passed its first resolution protecting brick streets in 1992, brick streets are now protected within all National Register and local historic districts, and hexagon block sidewalks, in use since about 1914, are protected in and next to historic districts and landmarks.

The St. Pete Pier at 800 2nd Avenue NE opens 30 minutes before sunrise, closes at 11:00 p.m. and charges nothing to enter the Pier District (St. Pete Pier FAQ).

The city history page places it in sequence: the Inverted Pyramid pier, successor to the Million Dollar Pier, closed in 2013 to make room for the 26-acre St. Pete Pier, which opened in 2020 (City of St. Petersburg history).

On-street meters charge $2.50 an hour for the first 3 hours and $5 for the 4th hour, with a 4 hour limit from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, while the Dolphin and Pelican lots charge $2 an hour for the first 4 hours on weekdays and $2.50 on weekends, with a 6 hour limit and enforcement around the clock (St. Pete Pier FAQ). The free Downtown Looper trolley stops at Bayshore Drive and 2nd Avenue NE, right at the Pier entrance.

Anglers are limited to the Fishing Deck east of the Pier Point building, open 30 minutes before sunrise to 11:00 p.m., and the Museum of History keeps 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours daily (St. Pete Pier FAQ). Dogs are not allowed on the splash pad or on Spa Beach. The St. Pete Pier guide goes into more depth.

Sunken Gardens, a historic St. Petersburg botanical garden on 4th Street North, charges $18 for adults, $15 for seniors 62 and older and $8 for children 2 to 12 (Sunken Gardens visitor information).

Gates open at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday and at noon on Sunday, closing at 4:30 p.m. every day, and the last visitors are admitted at 4 p.m. at 1825 4th St. N. (Sunken Gardens). Tickets and memberships cannot be bought ahead online, so admission is paid in person on the day (Sunken Gardens visitor information). Nearly 200 free parking spaces on site are shared with Great Explorations and Carrabba's, with overflow parking at Crescent Lake Park a short walk away, and only ADA service-trained dogs may enter.

The garden dates to 1911, when plumber and gardener George Turner Sr. bought the 4.1 acres; in the early 1930s he drained the sinkhole known as Curlew Pond with a maze of clay tiles and began charging fifteen cents for tours (Sunken Gardens history). It became a protected local landmark in 1998, the City of St. Petersburg now works to preserve it, and the Sunken Gardens History Center opened in 2022.

Two official records differ on the federal listing: the garden's history page says its historic main entrance joined the National Register in 1999 (Sunken Gardens history), while the city National Register list shows the 1825 4th St N address under the name Sanitary Public Market with a June 2002 listing (National Register list). The Sunken Gardens guide goes into more depth.

Both buildings are on both registers: the Vinoy Park Hotel and the Snell Arcade sit on the National Register and were among the first St. Petersburg local landmarks named in 1986 (St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places).

The Vinoy Park Hotel was listed on the National Register in September 1978 and locally designated in May 1986 (National Register list; local register). The two city lists give it different addresses, 501 5th Ave NE on the federal list and 501 Beach Drive NE on the local list, so either can turn up in permit or preservation records. The Vinoy Park Hotel guide covers the hotel in more depth.

The Snell Arcade at 405 Central Ave was listed on the National Register in November 1982 and designated a local landmark in June 1986 (National Register list; local register). A second Snell property, the C. Perry Snell House at 501 Second St S, joined the local register in December 1994. The Snell Arcade guide covers the building in more depth.

The St. Petersburg history page describes four historic walks, including the Downtown and Waterfront Walking Tours with three routes and the African American Heritage Trail with nineteen markers (City of St. Petersburg history).

The African American Heritage Trail has two walking tours covering the years from the arrival of the first African Americans in 1868 to the end of the Civil Rights era in 1968, and both begin at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Museum at 2240 9th Ave South (spelled Woodsen on the city page) (History of St. Pete). The Florida Stories Walking Tour app adds an audio and photo tour of downtown architecture, and the Historic Outdoor Museum of Roser Park has twenty-eight markers maintained by the neighborhood association. Downtown and Waterfront tours can be walked alone or with a hired docent.

The city table of St. Petersburg markers and monuments is dated September 19, 2017 (City of St. Petersburg Markers and Monuments). The table explains two common plaque types: contributing structure plaques handed out in 2004 for downtown buildings that were then 50 years old, and St. Pete Centennial sidewalk plaques installed in 1988, most of which mark buildings that no longer stand.

Four St. Petersburg landmark guides sit under this section, the Snell Arcade, St. Pete Pier, Sunken Gardens and Vinoy Park Hotel guides, and the table points each common question to one of them.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of St. Petersburg website, plus the St. Pete Pier and Sunken Gardens websites. The St. Petersburg historic register lists are dated documents, March 2022 for the National Register list, so a recent listing is best confirmed with the preservation staff at [email protected] (Historic Preservation).