Palma Ceia · Tampa
A Palma Ceia bungalow, with the room a family needs.
Brick streets, Cuban street names and 1920s bungalows around a golf club founded in 1916. We design the kitchens, baths and additions that let these houses keep their scale and gain their space.
Small houses, big lots, and a choice to make.
Palma Ceia has been settled since the early 1920s. The developer Tom Palmer gave it its name, and its streets carry the names of Havana. Bungalows still line them, and many have been replaced by new houses.
Palma Ceia is not one of Tampa’s local historic districts, so outside individual landmarks there is no historic review. The choice between keeping a bungalow and replacing it is the owner’s. We design the version that keeps the scale of the street and adds the space a family needs.
Exterior · Before and design concept
Here the flooding often comes from rain.
The City of Tampa lists Palma Ceia Pines among the areas with chronic rain flooding, and it is designing the South Howard Flood Relief Project, with construction planned from 2027 and completion in 2030. Until then, slab heights, drainage and finishes that tolerate water belong in the first drawing.
Where a house sits in a mapped flood zone, the City of Tampa measures substantial improvement against 50% of the structure’s market value, land excluded. We confirm both for your address before the scope is drawn.
And the canals to the west.
Sunset Park, on Old Tampa Bay, is a separate neighbourhood with 1950s finger canals and mid-century houses, many now being rebuilt. Its houses face the water directly, and its rooms deserve to be designed around that view.
The work
Drawn first. Then built.
Kitchen · Design
Guest bath · Completed
Massing model
Chair · Furnishings
Primary bath · Design
One core service, two ways to begin.
Full-Service Interior Design is our core service, for projects that need a developed design and the studio alongside you. Design Day and the Design Consultation are for decisions and direction. It all starts with a twenty-minute introductory call.
Is Palma Ceia a historic district?
No. It is not one of Tampa’s four local historic districts, so outside individual landmarks there is no historic review of renovations or additions.
My street floods when it rains. What can the design do?
Plan slab and threshold heights, drainage around the house and finishes that tolerate water from the start. The City of Tampa’s South Howard Flood Relief Project is planned for completion in 2030.
Is Tampa’s flood threshold 49% or 50%?
The City of Tampa uses 50% of the structure’s market value, land excluded, for houses in a mapped flood zone.
Where do we start?
With a twenty-minute introductory call to understand the project. From there we recommend Full-Service Interior Design, a Design Day or a Design Consultation, whichever fits.