Dr. J. C. Vinson, a urologist, served in World War I at Camp Beauregard in Louisiana. He had considerable realty holdings and in 1917 opened this building at 711 Florida Ave. That year, the first two major tenants were The Tampa Furniture Co. and the Starr Piano Co. As with many early-century multi-purpose structures, this building had many business tenants and purposes over its 100-year history.

In 1947, Morrison’s Cafeteria moved here from its former location at 608 N Florida, a block away, and fed hungry downtowners until 1969. The building then sat vacant until 1976, when the Fairmont Company completed a $350,000 renovation on the 30,000 sq. ft. structure. They acquired the building from the Exchange Bancorporation, which had dropped plans to convert it into a bank operations center. The building deteriorated over the next few decades. One of the last tenants was Kenneth Jennings, a London’s Savile Row trained Bespoke tailor who made custom suits priced from $1200 - $2600. The remnants of his gold leaf sign remained on the window until the demolition of the building.  The building was sold in 2021, and permits for demolition were obtained. It was demolished in early 2022, and construction of a new structure began.

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