The story behind St. Pete's Skyline Building, now a SHINE mural canvas
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St. Petersburg's Skyline Building on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, with progress on a mural by North Carolina-based artist Osiris Rain. Photo: Todd Burgess Sunsation Media
St. Petersburg's Skyline Building has lived many lives since it opened in 1961.
Why it matters: This week, it's a giant canvas for artists participating in the 12th-annual SHINE Mural Festival.
The big picture: By this weekend, four new murals will cover the cylindrical office building and surrounding walls on Dr. Martin Luther King Street North, said Helen French, executive director of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, which organizes the festival.
- Alyssa Marie with the Happy Mural Project worked with more than 500 locals to paint a floral-themed piece on the north wall of the property.
- The back and side walls of the building feature a moody black-and-white piece by REIVER, a self-taught artist from the United Kingdom, and a burst of color by Virginia artist Jon Murrill.
- And North Carolina-based artist Osiris Rain is painting the seven-story cylinder that, rumor has it, was inspired by the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, according to St. Petersburg Museum of History executive director Rui Farias.
Zoom in: Murrill's mural is set to depict Irene Rodríguez, an award-winning flamenco dancer born in Cuba and based in Tampa Bay, per the Arts Alliance.
- An unveiling ceremony, featuring a performance by Rodríguez, is set for 2pm Saturday and will be open to the public.
State of play: The artwork puts fresh attention on a storied building in St. Pete that towers over the one- and two-floor homes in Woodlawn and Crescent Heights, away from the urban core.
- Designed by modernist architect W.A. Sarmiento, the building opened in 1961 as a home for the Security Federal Savings and Loan Association, Farias wrote in a 2024 column for St. Pete Rising.
- Locals knew it as the "Round Bank" that gave out piggy-bank replicas of the building, but the real draw was on the sixth floor.
Flashback: Within a year, an employee lounge there was converted into Bob Prine's Skyline Room, a restaurant serving up prime rib for $2.50, live music, and killer views of the city and Tampa Bay.
- It later became Jay Galbraith's Penthouse Restaurant and Lounge, complete with a dance floor "to lure in the disco crowd," Farias wrote.
- At some point, the quality took a turn, with former St. Pete Times food critic Ruth Gray writing in 1979 that her meal of a relish tray, onion soup and saltine-breaded veal cutlet was "a disaster."
- The chef departed in the 1980s along with several building tenants, Farias wrote.
The latest: The building is now home to several businesses, including a maritime training school and a yet-to-open Suncoast Fitness.