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Tampa's Capt. William Parker Jackson house designated local landmark

 
“Capt. Bill” Jackson and his wife lived in this home, a center of social life in the rural community that became Seminole Heights.
“Capt. Bill” Jackson and his wife lived in this home, a center of social life in the rural community that became Seminole Heights.
Published March 12, 2015

TAMPA — The 130-year-old Capt. William Parker Jackson house in Old Seminole Heights has won City Council approval as a local landmark.

The two-story Folk Victorian house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2011. With the local designation, officials say, any attempt to alter the exterior of the home or demolish it would have to be reviewed by the city's Architectural Review Commission.

"This is wonderful," council member Mary Mulhern told city staff before the council's unanimous vote last week to landmark the home. "I'm thrilled that you're doing this."

A retired steamship captain, Jackson built the three-bedroom home around 1885 on his cattle, orange and sugarcane farm of 152 acres stretching from Nebraska Avenue to the Hillsborough River. The house — not the same as the historic Jackson Rooming House on Zack Street — is at 800 E Lambright St., near Interstate 275.

Known as "Capt. Bill," Jackson and his wife, Louise, lived raised eight children in the home, a center of social life in the rural community that grew into Seminole Heights. On the sea, he skippered mail and passenger ships between Cedar Key and New Orleans, with occasional voyages to Cuba and Panama, but he retired to farming as trains began to supplant shipping in Florida.

In 1914, the captain served as a county commissioner. He donated the land for Seminole Heights Elementary School.

City officials credited the late Ann McDonald with leading efforts to win historic landmark status for the house. McDonald, 74, chaired the historic preservation committee of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association at the time of her death in February 2014.

Property records show the house was deeded to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by a mortgage company that owned it last summer. It is currently up for sale, city officials said.

Contact Richard Danielson at rdanielson@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3403. Follow @Danielson_Times