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City's History, Architecture Linked

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By JOYCE McKENZIE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

Updated: 02/04/2008 08:22 pm

TEMPLE TERRACE - The fabric that serves as the city's foundation has largely been overlooked, according to Rachelle Hostetler.

It is the architecture of Temple Terrace, which reflects the framework from which the city was built and has prospered for more than eight decades, she says.

The University of South Florida senior humanities major has made it her mission to showcase how the city's architectural styles, which were drawn from throughout the world, are closely tied to the social and economic history of the state.

Hostetler, 26, a Temple Terrace resident, is writing an honors program undergraduate thesis on the topic, an undertaking that has involved three semesters of research and earned her the opportunity to represent USF and present her findings at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research at Salisbury University, April 10 through 12 in Salisbury, Md.

"I'm so excited to be able to participate because I've invested so much time and effort in it," said Hostetler, who noted the conference will include students from colleges throughout the country. "On top of my academic life, it's been my social life."

In her thesis, "Historic Architecture of Temple Terrace: How Living Spaces Reflect the Zeitgeist of the Age (1920-1958)," Hostetler contends that Temple Terrace is an architectural microcosm of Florida history.

"I am convinced that much of the innovation and creativity in early 20th century art and architecture would not have been possible if not for the horrors of World War I," she wrote in her introduction to the history of the city's architectural styles during the state's land boom of the 1920s.

It was an era, Hostetler said, that romanticized the good times and one that afforded wealthy Northerners an opportunity to enjoy the "escapist fantasy world for the rich and famous" in Temple Terrace.

The influence of Spanish, Italian, Asian and Mexican architecture became fashionable in the homes and recreational facilities that attracted the elite class of residents.

An example, Hostetler said, was the city's Mediterranean Revival-styled country club that drew members of the city's new societal stratum, many of whom owned servants and hired agricultural workers to tend to the orange groves they had purchased.

"A study of Temple Terrace's architectural history is clearly tied to its social and economic history," she said.

She cited a servant's quarters with no hot water and a hidden brass button in a home's dining room to secretly summons a servant as examples of architectural details that show the distinction among its 1920s residents.

The architectural trends in the post-World War II years of the 1950s, Hostetler pointed out, were marked by new subdivisions in Temple Terrace for the middle class. Large, midcentury modern ranch-style homes on big lots with cars in most driveways became the norm.

"People started moving away from cities and to the suburbs in search of the American dream," Hostetler wrote. "The wide, sprawling houses and lots actually served to display independence of traditional living standards - everything was bigger and better."

Both styles of architecture - revival and modern - Hostetler concluded, are based on the embodiment of society's values.

Her information-gathering techniques included interviewing homeowners, collecting and studying old newspaper clippings and real estate ads, visiting the county property appraiser's Web site and searching the archives of the library at USF.

"It took me a long time to put it together because there are really no books or detailed reports about Temple Terrace architecture," Hostetler said.

However, in her search for data, she joined the Temple Terrace Preservation Society, through which she met architect and longtime Temple Terrace resident Grant Rimbey, to whom she attributes much of her success with the project.

"There is no one who knows about the architecture of Temple Terrace like him," Hostetler said.

Rimbey, who opened his home for her to search through boxes of memorabilia he has collected about the early days of Temple Terrace, commended her for selecting the topic and staying so focused on seeing it to fruition.

"It tells us more about a past age and way of thinking than any other medium," Rimbey wrote in an e-mail. "Rachelle's thesis is unique in that it demonstrates what architects are taught. That is that architecture represents the age and time in which it was designed and built and thus is a tangible record of that socioeconomic-political atmosphere."

Hostetler's thesis adviser, Priscilla Brewer, also praised the work she has done on a study she called long-overdue.

"She's very creative, and her level of insight is quite advanced," said Brewer, also a resident of Temple Terrace. "If a graduate student were doing this job, I'd be impressed, but considering she's doing the work as an undergraduate is even more impressive."

Hostetler has no intention of becoming an architect. Instead, she plans to obtain a master's degree in American studies and eventually write a book on the subject.

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

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