A Hidden Treasure: The Friday Morning Musicale

Tucked away on a quiet brick stretch of Horatio Street just blocks north of Bayshore Boulvard lies a Tampa treasure. Wedged between Gorrie Elementary School and the new Horizon Bay retirement home is the Friday Morning Musicale, a home to Tampa artists over the years.

The name Friday Morning Musicale means much more than a location, however. It is also a group, formed in 1902 by young Tampa women who once met at each other's homes before finding a temporary meeting place at the Tampa Bay Casino, which was not an actual casino but a local performance hall. Eventually, that arrangement fell apart and the club needed to find something of their own, so they acquired the land at 809 West Horatio Street in Hyde Park North with war bonds purchased during World War I.

"It was something like six other women's clubs along with the Musicale that went in together and built this place in 1926," president of the Friday Morning Musicale Violet Mandese said. "That's why the facade of the building reads 'Friday Morning Musicale and Federated Clubs'. Unfortunately, many of those other clubs have died since then."

The primary clubs that still use the facility, which boasts a 385 seat auditorium, are the Tampa Music Teachers and the Friday Morning Musicale which rents the facility out. Ybor City native Mandese is a retired music teacher herself and has been hanging around the Mediterannean revival style building since her days a girl growing up in Tampa.

"When I was a girl there was a woman named Mrs. Fowler who lived in a hosue next store and would open the building for us to come in here for practice and have recitals," Mandese said. "Eventually her house was torn down and replaced with a parking lot. After that some developers came in with an idea that failed and after that Horizon Bay came in and built their facility. The area around here has obviously changed a lot over the last 80 years, but we're still here."

The building itself retains the treasured old feeling of an era long passed. The seats of the auditorium have been restored to their original wooden state and the integrity of everything from the arched windows to the old fashioned wall fans that line the aisles is still intact. The building has earned a status of "preserved" and is still in use today.

"The only thing that may ever change about this building is the kitchen," Mandese said. "Everything in their is so old it needs to be fixed up."

Passing through its halls and onto its stage have been many Tampa and national artists, actors and orchestral players that have since been forgotten, but the Musicale and what it represents still lives on in the hearts of many who can't imagine the city without it.

"There is no other building in the city of Tampa that has served the community like this one," Mandese said. "It gives our children a chance to perform on a nice stage with a Steinway piano, which these days cost $75,000. It's given so many performers a chance to get up on stage and show their abilities."

The Musicale's role in Tampa history is one thing, but what may come as a surprise to many is the effect that it has had on the state over the years. According to Mandese, the Musicale was at the roots of The Florida Orchestra, at the forefront of having music education in Florida schools and was where famous violinist Hulda Kreher founded Tampa's first orchestra.

The facility has been restored several times over the years and plays host to a multitude of events to this day, having more recently been rented out for events ranging from folk concerts staged by WMNF to couponing seminars.

The future for the Friday Morning Musicale is unknown, but if Mandese and the seven member board of directors have anything to do with it, the building will be restored to its 1926 glory and continue serving as a home to Tampa area artists.

"We want to continue with the upkeep of the building and to form some groups that can help see how we can generate some more money for projects like repairing our roof," Mandese said. "Hopefully, we'll still be here for another 100 years."

All programs at the Musicale are open to the public, unless it is a function of Gorrie Elementary which uses the facility as its auditorium. For more information about the Friday Morning Musicale's history, shows and monthly meetings, call (813) 251-1990.