What Her Grandfather Built: How M.B. Welch Shaped St. Pete
Featured image: Portrait of MB Welch that mentions his buildings and his hobbies. All photos courtesy of Amy (Welch) Walker.
During the 1920s land boom, St. Petersburg expanded at a pace that reshaped the city almost overnight. Across that growing landscape, contractor M. B. Welch was at work, building not just in one area but throughout the city, converting plans into places people would live, gather, and invest in. The Old Northeast holds one important concentration of his surviving homes, but his reach extended well beyond it – to Downtown St. Pete, Grenada Terrace, and Crescent Heights, to St. Pete Beach, Disston Heights, Crescent Lake, and the Pink Streets. Most notably, it was recently discovered by Welch’s granddaughter, that he was even behind projects like the Snell House on Snell Isle, where scale and craftsmanship came together at the height of the boom. All together, these structures tell an impressive story of a builder who helped shape St. Pete.
A 2024 feature in Green Bench Monthly, written by historian and Northeast Journal contributor Monica Kile, offers a thoughtful introduction to M. B. Welch, bringing well-deserved attention to a builder whose name is not yet widely recognized. Her article highlights key projects, including the group of Mediterranean-style homes in ONE often referred to as “Mediterranean Row,” and begins to sketch Welch’s role in shaping St. Pete during the 1920s boom.
Kile writes, “Maynard B. ‘M.B.’ Welch was one of the busiest contractors in St. Petersburg during the 1920s real estate boom. He built many landmarks that remain standing today.” Her article provides an essential foundation, placing Welch within the network of architects and developers who defined the era, while opening the door to a deeper exploration of his work.
Welch’s granddaughter, Amy (Welch) Walker, made the discovery of M.B. Welch’s extensive building background, but she credits Monica with pushing her in the right direction to learn more and helping her understand the importance of her grandfather’s work in building St. Pete.
“Until I found pictures and started researching, I had no idea the scope of his work,” Amy says. “We just knew him as Papaw.”
In the early 1920s, waves of new residents came to St. Pete, many of them seasonal, drawn by sunshine, speculation, and the promise of a modern coastal lifestyle.
Developers like C. Perry Snell envisioned elegant neighborhoods carved out of pine flatwoods and shoreline. Architects turned those ambitions into designs inspired by Mediterranean and Spanish architectural style. But none of it would have materialized without builders. Contractors like M. B. Welch occupied a critical, if often overlooked, role. They were responsible for turning vision into structure by coordinating labor, sourcing materials, managing timelines, and ensuring that what was imagined on paper could stand up to Florida’s heat, humidity, and storms, something Welch took seriously.
In an article written in March of 1925, the Tampa Bay Times writes of Welch, “For a short time after coming [to St. Petersburg], he was associated with C.C. Clarkson, who taught him much about the construction of houses for this climate; how to get proper ventilation and the proper mix for stucco and plaster in order that they would not crack. Mr. Welch is not yet 30 years of age, but he has made building a lifetime study.”
In a boom environment, speed was essential, but so was quality. Welch’s work suggests he understood both demands. The homes attributed to him are not isolated anomalies. They are structures born of an established practice. They reflect the steady hand of someone who knew how to build well and quickly.
Through the work of his granddaughter, a more complete picture of M. B. Welch is beginning to take shape. After discovering just how extensive her grandfather’s building career had been, Amy set out to document it. She collected photographs, records, and family accounts to better understand his work. In the process, she uncovered not only a long list of projects, but a clearer sense of the man behind them.
“He was so kind and gave off a bigger-than-life presence,” says Amy. “I knew he was a hard worker and that has been proven through all that I have found about him.”
Amy describes her grandfather as someone deeply committed to his craft, less concerned with recognition than with doing the job well and maintaining good relationships. Welch worked at a time when trust between builder, architect, client, and crew was essential, and where a reputation was built one structure at a time.
“He must have been well respected,” says Amy. “His company grew after the land boom and at one point he had over 400 employees and was one of the largest contracting companies on the west coast of Florida.” That pattern of cohesion can still be seen in neighborhoods like the Old Northeast, where clusters of his homes remain. What stands out most in her findings is a sense that Welch understood the lasting impact of his work. These were not temporary structures; they were homes and buildings meant to endure, helping to establish neighborhoods that were still coming into being.
“He was a man of his word,” says Amy. “His company slogan was ‘Welch Built Means Well Built.’ I think he stood by that and it was recognized by those who hired him.”
The relationship between architect and builder is clearly seen in what is now called, “Welch’s Mediterranean Row,” a group of homes constructed in the mid-1920s and designed by architect C. Sedgwick Moss. Welch served as the contractor, turning Moss’s Mediterranean Revival designs into a unified street within the neighborhood. Here, the hallmarks of the style are unmistakable: stucco walls, clay tile, and arched windows and doorways. But what stands out is not just the individual houses, but how they relate to one another. There is a pattern to the spacing, a uniformity in proportion, and a shared architectural design that creates a sense of place. This is where Welch’s role as contractor became especially visible. While the architect may have established the design, it was Welch who ensured that each home aligned with that vision. The result is a block that feels intentional rather than accidental.
Beyond Mediterranean Row, Welch’s work appears in a range of houses and apartments across the Old Northeast, as well as many different buildings throughout St. Pete, many of them identified through Amy’s research and historic records. These structures reflect the architectural diversity of the 1920s boom.
“He was definitely zeroing in on the Spanish Mediterranean,” says Amy, “but he would also branch out and meet the customer’s desires. He built in the colonial style; he also built bungalows – there are multiple in the Disston Heights area. He built the Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Crescent Heights, which has since been preserved and converted into a beautiful home. He also built the St. Petersburg Sunshine Roque Club as well as the city’s first outdoor basketball court – both were in Mirror Lake but have since been demolished. He built so many different structures and was everywhere in the city.”
At the center of Welch’s known work is the Snell House. During the height of the 1920s boom, Welch was contracted by the developer C. Perry Snell, whose projects define some of St. Pete’s most distinguished neighborhoods. The home was conceived not simply as a residence but as an embodiment of the lifestyle the city was marketing to the world.
Architecturally, the Snell House reflects the Mediterranean Revival style that dominated the period. Its stucco exterior, tiled roof, and arched openings place it firmly within that tradition. However, the execution of the build, the precision of the details, the solidity of the construction, are what speak to Welch’s role. This was not a modest commission. It required skill and a level of craftsmanship that could meet the expectations of a high-profile client.
Amy only recently discovered her grandfather’s huge role in the Snell home when she bought C. Perry Snell: His Place in St. Petersburg, Florida History, by Judy Lowe Wells, and on a whim opened to the index and found her grandfather’s name. To say she was surprised is an understatement.
“I remember driving along Coffee Pot Blvd as a child, sitting in the back seat of my parents’ car looking over at that spectacular big home thinking, ‘Someone important must live there!’” she says. “Little did I know that one day I would discover my grandfather built that home.”
Through her research of the Snell home Amy found most homes on Snell Isle were built by Samuel V. Schooley. Her discovery that Snell chose her grandfather to build his first home on Snell Isle was, in her words, “remarkable.” The Snell home stands as a clear example of what Welch could accomplish at the height of his career. The Snell home has had several changes and additions through the years, many of which were also done by Welch in the late 1930s.
The pace of construction during St. Pete’s 1920s boom was relentless. Entire neighborhoods rose in a matter of months, placing enormous pressure on contractors to build quickly while still delivering lasting quality. In the case of M. B. Welch, the structures that remain suggest he managed both. Many of Welch’s homes have endured and continue to define the character of neighborhoods like the Old Northeast.
For his granddaughter, uncovering this legacy has been both a research project and a personal journey. Through photographs, documents, and stories, Amy has assembled a fuller picture of her grandfather’s life and work. However, the most meaningful connection she has found comes from walking the same streets, seeing the same homes, and recognizing the lasting imprint of his work within the city.
“I am just so proud of him and what he brought to St. Pete,” she says. “I have been able to walk through two of his homes, one on Mediterranean Row and the Snell home. It was an unbelievable feeling to walk in and see the inside of these homes that he built 100 years ago. To walk the same halls and touch the same walls where he stood – it gave me chills.”
To date, Amy has found more than 300 structures attributed to her grandfather and the locations of over 60 of his buildings within the city, some of which have been demolished. She continues her search and hopes to one day have a complete list of all that her grandfather built.
