City/Town: • Tampa |
Location Class: • Commercial |
Built: • 1907 | Abandoned: • 2016 |
Status: • Abandoned |
Photojournalist: • David Bulit |
Table of Contents
Larmon Furniture Company
Rubel Isaac Larmon was born on December 31, 1895, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the son of William Eugene and Mollie H. Murray Larmon. Rubel married Ermine Elizabeth Edwards in 1920 and had two sons, Robert and William Curtis.
The Larmon family moved to Tampa, Florida, where Ribel worked odd jobs until he began working for Earl I. Friday at his furniture store. Friday took Larmon under his wing and offered him the opportunity to open a furniture store with his brother, David Theodore Friday. It was the Depression, and you were lucky to get a job anywhere, let alone start a new business, so Larmon took him up on his offer.
The Guichard Building
In 1931, Friday & Larmon Furniture Company opened on Seventh Avenue and Fourteenth Street in Ybor City, occupying a 4,000-square-foot space in the Guichard Building. Construction of this building began in 1905 and was completed in 1907 by contractors Bethel & Slaughter for Judge Charles Donovan. Before Friday and Larmon moved in, the building was occupied by the law firm of Lawhorn & Jackson, Pedro Lewis, who was described in The Tampa Tribune as a “popular and talented artist,” and La Panera Grocery and Meats, among others.
Since its inception, the building has been expanded to 20,000 square feet and was once considered the fourth-largest furniture store in the state of Florida. After D.T. Friday died in 1955, Larmon partnered with his son Curtis, and the company’s name was changed to Larmon Furniture.
Success and Decline of the Company
William Curtis Larmon, born October 29, 1929, graduated from Hillsborough High School in 1942, served in the Naval Reserve, and later graduated from Tampa Business College. He was a sales manager at Holtsinger Motor Company in Tampa until 1955 when he joined his father’s business. After his father’s retirement in 1966, Curtis bought out his share of the business. He continued working there until 1992, when he sold the Larmon Furniture Company to his daughters, Cheryl Smith and Elizabeth Kalamaras, and Elizabeth’s husband, Jimmy.
Jimmy Kalamaras began working at his father-in-law’s furniture store in 1986, two years after marrying Elizabeth. He became president of Larmon Furniture after his sister-in-law Cheryl sold her part of the company to be a stay-at-home mom. The Kalamarass found success and eventually opened a second location at 7555 West Waters Avenue in Town ‘N’ Country to expand their customer base. The company operated until 2016, when it later dissolved.
Current State
The former Larmon Furniture store in Ybor City was purchased in 2016 by twin brothers Jason and John Accardi, owners of 717 Parking Enterprises and Accardi Real Estate Company, and is currently available for lease. Among other historic structures, the Accardi brothers also own the parking lot surrounding the Jackson Rooming House in downtown Tampa. Due to this, construction has not begun on the structure.
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