809 South Orleans Avenue - Alice and Tom Stampiglia

Tom brought Alice to Tampa when he came to interview for a job in 2003. They had been living in an historic house in Atlanta. Their agent brought them to this house, and as soon as they pulled up, Alice said, “We don’t need to see the inside. We want it!” They came back that evening and told the owners not to take any other offers.

The expansive front porch, six fireplaces, French doors that lead into the living room, elegant paneling and woodwork, and three attic dormers, set this home apart. John Gray Anderson, who was president and treasurer of Tampa Coal Company, built it for his family in 1911, when this neighborhood was being subdivided out of orange groves. He and his wife, Anne Maie Lindley Anderson, finally moved in when it was completed in 1915. They raised five children here. Their son, John Anderson III, died in a plane crash returning home from the war. The playground at Kate Jackson Park in Hyde Park Village is named after him—Anderson Playground. 

When Alice and Tom purchased the home, a laundry room sat at the bottom of the stairs. The small room had actually been updated from being a “telephone room”. The Stampiglias moved the laundry room to the second floor, and the original “telephone room” transformed again. This time, into a walk-in pantry.

In 2013, the Stampiglias added on the spacious family room to the back and improved the kitchen. Before adding on the family room, the den off the living room was a sun porch which they used as their casual, relaxation room. “And we have a ridiculous-sized dining room. I keep trying to figure out what to do with all the space!” says Alice.

A few years ago, Alice noticed a woman on the sidewalk taking pictures of the house. This person turned out to be the granddaughter of John Gray Anderson, the original owner. Months later, the woman brought back her cousins who had lived in the house and they told the Stampiglias many stories about the home.

“I guess we love old houses because they have a history and soul that is the combination of all the lives of all the people who have made these houses their homes,” says Alice.