Staff spotlight: Junta Homestead and Farm highlighted as Ybor City local landmark

Tampa — City historic preservation staff presented the Junta Homestead and Farm on May 5 as this month’s preservation-in-progress feature, urging recognition of the site’s agricultural and immigrant history within the Ybor City Historic District.

Elaine Lund, historic preservation staff, told the Architectural Review Commission the Junta Homestead and Farm at 2401 East 11th Avenue sits on nearly an entire block in the East End of Ybor City and was designated a local historic landmark in 2020. Lund said the Juntas were Sicilian immigrants who arrived in 1907 and worked first on rail construction and then locally; they supported city grocers through market gardening and celery farming.

Lund described the site’s character: the 1924 two-story Craftsman-style house with intact decorative brick column piers and gable stickwork, a contributing 1951 garage, a greenhouse, chicken coop, planting fields along Eleventh Avenue and 20th Fifth Street and a south-side orchard area. Staff said the site’s agricultural layout and accessory buildings merited additional local recognition because Sicilian farmsteads are only briefly mentioned in local and national district reports and are not specifically called out as a historic resource type.

Dennis Fernandez, architectural review and historic preservation manager, introduced the segment and said the city is featuring 1 of the local landmark properties during Historic Preservation Month to raise public awareness. Staff plans to continue outreach and recognition related to the local inventory.

The commission took no formal action; the presentation was informational.