There are a lot of moving parts for any urban redevelopment project, but 250 Mirror Lake is perhaps something different for St. Petersburg.
“It's not just a renovation. There's elements of residential expertise and renovation, there's a historical component, and there's also the larger commercial development,” says Will Conroy, President of Backstreets Capital, the project developer.
When restoring part of the city’s architectural legacy is at the center of the plan, there's added pressure to get it right.
“Making sure you have the right pieces on the chessboard at the right time” is how Conroy describes it.
One key piece on that board is EDAD Studio, a St. Petersburg-based architecture firm who, along with local contractors All Trades Historical and Fox Building Group, is restoring the historic 1937 Cade Allen-designed home that fronts Mirror Lake, from which the entire project draws its inspiration.
The three-phase development will begin with the restoration of the historic home, followed by the construction of a seven-story condominium and, finally, a new single-family residence fronting the lake designed by Place Architecture to reference the Allen home next door.
“We’re excited to bring this historic gem back to life,” said EDAD principal Elizabeth Hallock. “Our goal is to honor Cade Allen’s vision while integrating modern conveniences that make the home functional and comfortable for today’s living.”
Mediterranean Revival with St. Pete Flair
Architecturally, Cade Allen had a signature look. Many of his houses were designed in the Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Revival styles that swept Florida in the 1920s and ’30s. Stucco walls, stone cladding, clay roof tiles, arched windows, and generous porches were common. Inside, you’ll find hardwood floors, vaulted wood-beam ceilings, built-in cabinetry and plaster arches.
But Allen offered something a little different.
“You definitely don’t find a lot of solomonic columns in Florida,” says Hallock, referring to the twisted stone columns more commonly associated with Roman and Baroque architecture and often found in Spain, but common for Cade Allen homes in St. Pete.
Utilizing his background as a mason in New York, Allen was one of the few Florida builders using stone as a building material. According to his son Donald Allen, “he wanted something unique that everybody else wasn’t doing …it was as inexpensive as stucco.”
Allen acquired stone throughout the U.S. and shipped it to St. Petersburg by railroad. He utilized coquina from Florida’s east coast, as well as marble, granite, fieldstone, silica, and sandstone from the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Indiana. The result was a unique mix of New York construction methods and Mediterranean and Mission architecture.
“[The stone] is six to eight inches thick. It's massive” says Hallock. “Every piece is extraordinarily heavy. We have these incredibly talented artisans restoring it, literally piece by piece. It's like magic to watch them at work.”
One of Allen’s great strengths was durability. His houses were well-crafted and built to last. Developer Walter Fuller wrote about Allen’s houses in the 1920s, stating, “their excellence is the only testament that this builder needs.”
One hundred years later, Backstreets’ Conroy agrees.
“I think it's a very good lesson. When you build something with the right product, the right materials, and the right craftsmen, even if it's on the West Coast of Florida, it'll stand the test of time.”
Hallock’s research included consulting with the city’s historic preservation department and talking with members of the Allen family to find the right mix of old and new.
“How do you pick colors that work with the tile, but also work with the stone, but also work with the grout? I think we landed on something really beautiful and I’m really happy with the result.”
A Vision for Allendale
When Allen arrived in St. Petersburg in 1911, he became one of many new real estate agents contributing to the city’s growth during this booming period, building his first house at what is now 145 17th Avenue Northeast.
In 1923, Allen purchased a large citrus grove known as Foster Grove and started building. The result was Allendale Terrace, one of St. Pete’s first planned neighborhoods north of downtown. Unlike many parts of the city, the land here sat a bit higher, still a big selling point today.
Allen wasn’t just throwing up houses, he was shaping a community. The Allen family lived in several of the homes, and by the mid-20th century had built dozens of properties in the area.
Historic Mirror Lake
Backstreets acquired the Cade Allen home at 250 Mirror Lake along with several surrounding vacant lots just prior to City Council designating the area a local historic district. The designation effort, led by Mirror Lake residents with assistance from Preserve the ‘Burg, protects structures that are within 200 feet of the lakefront, including the Allen Home.
“While the larger Mirror Lake neighborhood meets the criteria for a local designation, many of the more significant structures, such as the library and the Lyceum, front the lake,” said Preserve the ‘Burg Executive Director, Manny Leto. “The designation protects those structures and also protects the waterfront viewshed, similar to Beach Drive.”
In a 2024 letter sent to the Development Review Commission supporting the project, Leto shared that, “Backstreet’s development proposal for 250 Mirror Lake sets a benchmark for compatible development in a historic neighborhood.”
Designing for Today
Hallock and Conroy both acknowledge the challenges inherent in restoring older properties. “Our design approach,” says Hallock, was "how do I get this to a point where it's the way people want to live now?”
“What Elizabeth and EDAD did phenomenally was design the home to be livable by modern standards - a large primary bedroom, great family room, a great kitchen that looks out over the lake,” says Conroy.
“One of the things we did was maximize the view of Mirror Lake from as many places in the home as we could manage, far more than it was in the original design,” added Hallock. “It's a really special location and I think we took good advantage of that view.”
One common refrain Hallock hears about historic properties is that buyers are concerned about investing money into an old product versus a new product. “But," she says, “if you're taking the bones of it and putting in new electrical, new HVAC, you essentially have a new product.”
“As far as I know, there's really no other sales that have happened for a 1937, beautifully restored Cade Allen masterpiece in an urban setting, on a lake, with a skyline five blocks away,” boasts Conroy. “This is one of one.”
