In my last posting, I shared a little history of Ybor City, once home of a large Cuban community. At the heart of Ybor is the Columbia Restaurant, in business since 1905, and today run by the fourth generation of the Hernandez-Gonzmart family.
The Columbia is Florida's oldest restaurant, the first restaurant in Tampa to be air-conditioned (a big deal in 1935!), and today it boasts a modern 5000+ square-foot kitchen.
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| columbiarestaurant.com |
The restaurant is famous for its "1905 Salad," a hearty meal and customer favorite!
The entire outside of the building is decorated with beautiful antique tile work.
The Columbia Restaurant isn't the only building to boast such beautiful tiles. The store across the street, which happens to be a tile gallery, features the work below:
While this tile has coloration one might associate with Spain or Portugal, the original design is actually by the 19th century German artist, Karl Klimsch.
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Dear Mark, What a lovely gift you sent my way this Sunday morning. I'm drooling over these beautiful hand painted tiles. I'm thinking of hopping on a plane so I can feast my eyes on these fabulous panels. The designs are a mixture of Italian (grotesque style) French, Portuguese and Spanish. Did Karl Klimsch design and paint all of your featured samples? Thank you for introducing us to artist Klimsch...need to do a little investigating.
ReplyDeleteDear Gina, The Klimsch design is only the last tile, which is not part of the Columbia Restaurant. I have a feeling that it might be a relatively modern piece of tile work, using this old German design. All the other tile designs date to the early days of the Columbia Restaurant and were done by other hands.
ReplyDeleteDear Mark - This tile work is so appealing and lovely to see.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I ever encountered elaborate tiles was many years ago at the Alhambra Palace, Granada. There the wonderful skills and designs of the N. African Moors can be seen.
I have often thought how lovely it would be to have an open inner courtyard, with tiled walls, such as those you have shown, and a fountain playing in the middle.
Dear Rosemary - I have always been attracted to Moorish designs, particularly those intricate patterns. One of my future house projects is to paint all my interior doors, and it's a toss up between Moorish and Gothic. That's why I was so interested in your posting on Mr. Pugin!
DeleteI love family owned restaurants, and all the passed down recipes. This one has such a legacy and history. If I ever visit, I'm definitely getting that 1905 salad. Amazing tilework...will check out that store, too. Reminds me of Italy.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Loi
Hi, Loi - As I mentioned in the previous posting, the Ybor community was comprised of Italians as well as Cubans, so the tile designs could have an Italian influence.
DeleteI've dined at the St. Petersburg Columbia Restaurant, which has a beautiful view overlooking Tampa Bay. The St. Petersburg branch sells a big selection of majolica pottery.
I remember seeing elaborate tile-work of that type from trips to Miami. I would have thought that tropical Taiwan might have had some similar displays, but it does not seem to be a feature there.
ReplyDeleteHello, Parnassus - I always associate Chinese tile work with the Forbidden City. Have you had a chance to see it? Vietnam also has beautiful and distinctive ceramics. I have several pieces dating to 1960's Saigon, perhaps the topic of another posting . . .
DeleteI have seen the forbidden city , amazing and huge. I also saw some jade tiles in temples in Myanamer, the most wonderful place I have been.
DeleteI love The Columbia! you could really do the long lunch there, unlike these modern places with concrete floors, hard surfaces and clangy noise. Those tiles are beautiful even though generally I don't like blue and yellow together. Thanks for showing places in Florida outsiders don't usually see
ReplyDeleteHello, smr - I've always enjoyed going off the beaten track, although Ybor is actually a big part of Tampa's history.
DeleteI would say that those tiles are orange and blue (complementary colors) but a dear friend of mine would agree with you that it's yellow. In any case, I think the color combination works beautifully.
On second thoughts maybe it is orange. I'd better stop while I'm ahead this could send you/me crazy
DeleteI'm happy to see you have featured the tiles from our family restaurant. The color on most of the tiles is Orange and Blue. The majority of the tiles originate from Sevilla, Spain dating back to 1933. The process and designs are influenced from the 700 year occupation by the Moors. The restaurant encompasses the entire block with 15 dining rooms in the 52,000 sq. ft. building. Each room has a distinctive decor but each is adorned with tiles, with one dining room complete with skylight, balcony and the statue Arion & the delfin in a fountain. Please check our website to enjoy more of the tiles, complete with the award winning tile from the Chicago Worlds Fair (1935) of Don Quixote, a gift to my grandfather from the government of Spain. Cheers! Richard Gonzmart 4th Generation
ReplyDeletewww.columbiarestaurant.com
Thanks for visiting the blog, Richard! All my visits to the Columbia have been wonderful experiences!
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