One of Tampa's original neighborhoods
New Suburb Beautiful is a walkable community with easy access to the restaurants and shops on both Howard Avenue and Dale Mabry.
Our community small business owners embrace the relationship through support of the NSB Perks Card and hosting NSB residents for special events and happy hours.
The families and neighbors of NSB are truly what make this neighborhood special. Welcoming and warm, our neighborhood embraces the opportunity to get to know one another and forge long-term relationships.
Generation after generation, people move back to NSB, pass homes on to family members, and work through our close-knit community to welcome new families into the fold.
The History
The Development
Development of New Suburb Beautiful began in 1923 when the subdivision bearing that name was platted. It consisted of 211 lots located on Sunset Drive and Prospect Road between Howard and MacDill (then Lisbon) Avenues and the north side of Watrous Avenue between Howard and a point near MacDill Avenue. Sunset and Prospect were typical subdivision appellations. Watrous was named for the old Tampa family whose members had originally owned the land which became present day Hyde Park and New Suburb Beautiful. As platted, the developed streets were continuous as Marti and Georgia streets were not yet in existence.
The Pitch
The subdivision was platted with restrictions placed upon the subject lots in an effort to maintain the exclusivity of the neighborhood. These included the requirements that (1) they be used only for single family dwellings worth at leas $6,000.00; (2) the residence face the street and be set back to established lines; (3) no bungalettes be built (but servants’ quarters were generously allowed); and (4) no nuisances would be maintained.
Allen J. Simms set about the task of selling the new lots with his well-known enthusiasm. A typical newspaper advertisement proclaimed the area the “subdivision supreme.” It spoke first of wide sidewalks and streets of “velvet asphalt.” “The developers of this ideal subdivision have spared no expense to make New Suburb Beautiful the most desirable subdivision in the county” Planted parkways have added to the natural beauty of lots upon which master craftsman have built houses ready for occupancy.” (The Tampa Tribune, January 6, 1924).
"You want a tree?"
On Sept. 18, 1974, city workers planted the first five of 200 heritage oaks brought in from Texas in New Suburb Beautiful. Lillian Wharton took on the Heritage Live Oak Project for her club, the Amaryllis Garden Circle. Walking door to door in high heels, Lillian asked neighbors if they wanted oaks and transformed the neighborhood into the beautiful, oak-canopied streets we have today.
"Mother badgered them, and everybody went along with it,'' says her daughter, Mary Wharton Schroeder. She thinks Lloyd Copeland, the acting mayor at the time, gave in out of weariness. "The mayor was so sick of hearing about it.''
Read the story of Lillian’s oak legacy here.