Locksmith Services in Tampa, FL

Homes and locks in Tampa

Seminole Heights has a large concentration of intact bungalows from the suburban building of the 1910s and 1920s, many influenced by Florida Cracker architecture. The city's design guidelines note that most original doors there are divided into wood panels and glass lights, and ask owners to keep the sidelights and transoms around them rather than block them in.

By 1900, when Tampa's population had tripled to 26,000, Tampa Heights and upper Hyde Park were the city's elite suburbs, and bungalows later became Hyde Park's leading style as well.

Since the guidelines favor original hardware, note that lock rekeying changes only the inside of an existing lock, so new keys need not mean new hardware.

Davis Islands saw Mediterranean Revival building during the 1920s Florida boom. In 1988 Tampa annexed a mostly rural 24-square-mile area between I-275 and I-75, and New Tampa's development started that year.

Businesses and buildings

Ybor City's factories rolled their first cigars in 1886. The district is now a National Historic Landmark, with club buildings from the early 1900s such as El Centro Español and Centro Asturiano. For a storefront inside the Ybor City Historic District, a door change that alters the exterior needs city review first.

Westshore is a business district with more than 11 million square feet of office space, about 4,000 businesses, two major malls and Tampa International Airport. In a multi-tenant building there, ask property management whether suite locks run on a master key system before a rekey. See commercial locksmith services.

Car trouble in Tampa

Tampa Code Sec. 15-41 makes it unlawful to leave a vehicle for more than 24 hours on a city-owned or city-operated lot, garage, public street or other property that uses meters, pay stations or gates for revenue control, unless you arrange it in advance with the Parking Division.

City garages include Fort Brooke, Poe, Whiting, Twiggs, Palm Avenue and Centro Ybor. For a car lockout in one, give the garage name and level.

Local rules worth knowing

Historic districts. Tampa Code Secs. 27-272 to 27-275 give the design guidelines for Tampa Heights, Seminole Heights, Hyde Park and Ybor City the force of law. Sec. 27-115 requires a certificate of appropriateness from the Architectural Review Commission for exterior alterations visible to the public. Sec. 27-98 requires one from the Barrio Latino Commission for exterior alterations in Ybor City, including color. Under Secs. 27-102(c) and 27-119(c), ordinary repairs with pieces identical in appearance, which leave the visible exterior unchanged, do not need one.

The Seminole Heights guidelines ask owners to keep original door hardware when possible and to choose replacements similar in scale, proportion and material. They discourage security bars visible from the street and suggest electronic security systems instead.

Vacant buildings. Sec. 19-233 requires vacant structures to be secured, with entrance doors nailed closed around the jamb and head and windows covered by plywood panels. Under the foreclosure registry rules, Sec. 19-137 requires vacant property with a mortgage in default to be kept locked, including doors, windows and gates, and inspected weekly by a local property manager. Reopening one is a natural point to plan lock replacement.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Requesting service in Tampa

Give the neighborhood and cross streets, and say whether the house is in a historic district and the original hardware should stay. For a car, name the garage and level or the street. Florida Locksmith Pros takes service requests from homes, businesses and drivers in Tampa. See house lockout or the Florida page.