Circulo Cubano de Tampa


El Circulo Cubano de Tampa is a historic building constructed in 1917 to serve as a gathering place for Cuban immigrants in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida. It was designed by Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott. It is located at Palm Avenue and 14th Street. On November 15, 1972, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed the building on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as Cuban Club, Ybor City.
The building has a theater and once included a bowling alley, spa, pharmacy, ballroom, library, and cantina. Decorated with imported tile, stained glass, scraffito spandrels and murals it continues the legacy of the club first established in 1902 as a mutual aid society.
In 1893, Cuban revolutionary, writer, and poet Jose Marti was visiting the building in order to gain support for his revolutionary party and movement in Cuba. During the time Marti was in the building, there was an assassination attempt on his life when two Spanish agents gave him a glass of poison. Marti survived the encounter by pure intuition and quickly forgave his would-be assassins. Today there is a plaque remembering the incident outside the western entrance to the structure.