Centro Asturiano Hospital, 1302 E 21st Ave

Centro Asturiano Hospital on 21st Avenue. Circa 1930s. Robertson and Fresh Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida digital collection.

Centro Place Apartments, 1302 E 21st Ave.2023 © Chip Weiner

After opening its first hospital, Sanatorio del Centro Asturiano, in 1905, the mutual aid society Centro Asturiano, began to outgrow the space by the 1920s. This second larger hospital was proposed in 1927 at Thirteenth St. and Twenty-first Ave. and was built on a 5-acre tract of land the club owned. When plans for the hospital were drawn up, the estimated cost was $175,000.  The main building contained 26 rooms to treat medical cases and contagious diseases. It included a spacious lobby with cut stone archways and tile floors. It also had a pharmacy, outpatient clinic, laboratory, and patient rooms. The second building, with 13 rooms, was used for surgery. Two stories high, the third building contained a hospital kitchen and was home for nurses. The hospital opened in 1928 and was one of the most modern medical facilities.

After nearly 75 years of medical service to the community, the hospital closed abruptly in 1990 and went bankrupt in 1991. The property soon became a dumping ground for trash and stolen vehicles, and a place for vagrants to find shelter. In 1996, officials condemned and demolished all but the first building and fenced off the property. Asbestos, medical waste, and underground tanks were discovered, making redevelopment difficult. In 2003, the city designated the site a brownfield, which gives owners tax incentives to clean it up. The city contributed $1.5 million, and the Home Association, a charitable organization next to the hospital, obtained $16.6 million in federal dollars. The Centro Place Apartment Homes development began building a senior apartment complex of affordable homes after collaborating with the neighborhood and other invested parties and addressing their preservation concerns. The development, which takes an entire city block, opened in 2005. Once a welcoming site for the sick, the main hospital building shines again as a home for seniors.

 © Chip Weiner. All rights reserved

Centro Asturiano de Tampa Hospital. Burgert Brothers. Date unknown. Courtesy of the University of South Florida digital collection.

Centro Place Apartment Homes. 2020. © Chip Weiner

During an operation at Centro Asturiano Hospital 1930. Robertson and Fresh Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida digital collection.

Centro Asturiano Hospital furnished waiting room and lobby (tile floor, cut stone walls). 1937. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy of the Hillsborough County Library

Employees of Centro Asturiano Hospital". Date unknown. Robertson and Fresh Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida digital collection.

Operating room with equipment. 1928. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy of the Hillsborough County Library

Centro Austuriano under construction- Tony Pizzo Collection