Location Pensacola, Florida NRHP Reference # 70000184 | Area 108 acres (44 ha) Added to NRHP September 29, 1970 | |
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The Pensacola Historic District (also known as the Seville Historic District) is a U.S. historic district (designated as such on September 29, 1970) located in Pensacola, Florida. It contains 20 historic buildings and 2 structures.
The district is roughly bounded by Bayfront Parkway, Tarragona, Romana and Cevallos Streets. Within the district are the Historic Pensacola Village, the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum and Seville Square. Seville Square is the center of the old settlement of Pensacola by the Spanish after several unsuccessful attempts beginning in 1559. This was the earliest known attempt at European settlement on the North American continent. Seville Square and its twin, Plaza Ferdinand VII, were the parade grounds for the Fort of Pensacola established during British rule.
Establishment
In the early 1960s a group of local preservationists led by Pensacolian Mary Turner Rule (née Reed) formed the Pensacola Heritage Foundation, joined the National Trust, created the Seville Square Historic District, the neighborhood around Seville Square that was on Pensacola Bay, the first permanent settlement of the area. Realizing the importance of Pensacola's history and the need to save it, Rule and the Heritage Foundation had the Seville Square Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places and immediately purchased the important Dorr House on the square, restoring it with their own labor starting the preservation movement. They convinced the city to bring the deteriorated square to its present-day restored state. Then they created a festival, a hometown Victorian picnic in the park, An Evening in Old Seville Square, to bring Pensacolians to the district encouraging restoration. Rule had the famous lighthouse at the Navy Air Station listed on the National Register. She also helped create a state board now called the N.W. Florida Preservation Board, whose function is to protect the Seville Square Historic District and Pensacola's history. The city established the Architecture Review board to protect Pensacola's history locally.