In 2003, Jeff Schorr became the proud owner of a vintage Craftsman bungalow house at Central Avenue and 30th Street. Built in 1918, it had once been the wood, brick and stucco model home for the Kenwood neighborhood, with a wide and inviting front porch.
That stretch of Central had seen better days, but Schorr was weary of his then-current job, which called for a lot of traveling. He was determined to make something happen. He began showing and selling art and fine craftwork from local and national artists, turned the kitchen into a tiny café, and called his fledgling business the Craftsman House Gallery.
And it worked. And today, that stretch of what’s now Historic Kenwood is right on the edge of the thriving Grand Central District.
After 22 years, however, Schorr is getting out of the gallery business. He’s sold the designated-historic original structure to St. Pete restoration specialist Bob Roberts, whose resume includes the Snell Arcade, the Alexander Hotel and other landmarks.
“Having an historic building on the property makes it even tougher to find the right buyer,” said Schorr, who included in the sale the original carriage house (now a pottery studio) and the tiny home next door (he purchased that building, as a residence for visiting artists, in 2009).
“I was quietly selling it for the last three years. I didn’t have a sign out front, but I had a realtor and it was listed. I wanted to find someone who wasn’t an outside developer who just wanted to tear it down and build condos. I wanted someone who would keep the building and aspire to keep local businesses in.”
Roberts, said Schorr, will most likely not operate the 2,000-square-foot Craftsman House facility as an art gallery, but has made assurances the original building will remain (it’s listed for lease at this link).
And that was good enough for Schorr, who sits on the board of Preserve the ‘Burg, the nonprofit dedicated to keeping St. Pete’s historic architecture intact.
His reason for pulling out, he explained, is simple. “It’s just timing. You’ve got to get out sometime and enjoy semi-retirement.”
Jeff Schorr and Chrissy Auger inside Craftsman House Gallery. The cafe (in the background) “became a gathering place,” Auger pointed out. “People come here and they meet their friends. There’s a lot of groups who come here regularly, and that’s how a lot of people have gotten to know Jeff.”
The 62-year-old native New Yorker, who has a degree in environmental engineering, and an MBA in Business/Entrepreneurship, relocated to St. Petersburg after decades creating and selling clothing and gear for the surf, skate and snowboard industry. He was on the road so much, he felt like he didn’t have a permanent home.
For years, he bunked in the Craftsman House’s upstairs loft.
“The thing that excited me about this was the actual house,” Schorr said; the neighborhood itself was somewhat sketchy. “Two doors down was a pet shop. And I’m all excited, I’ve been renovating for a couple weeks, and I see people coming and going with their dogs. So I’m going to go over and introduce myself.
“I walked in, and it was all dog fighting supplies.
“There was a place across the street that some young guys rented as a private club, and they would have ragers at night. And then when the pet shop closed, they also rented that. And they put two couches in there, and curtains in the window – and I would see people walk across the street from the private club to the real private club.
“Diagonally across the street, which is now a florist, was a convenience store where a lot of the transients hung out. They would sell single cigarettes and kind of gear their business towards that. And two blocks up was a hair supply place called the Pleasure Dome. There was a lot going on around here.”
Over time, Jeff Schorr and the Craftsman House Gallery became integral to the city’s burgeoning, always networking artist community. Schorr was a participant, not merely an observer. In those early days, he said, Central Avenue was more a less a dividing line for the art community – everyone expected Schorr to cater to the established Old Northeast and Historic Kenwood customer base.
“So part of my goal was to at least be part of making it a ‘come together’ road, instead of a dividing one. Which I think it has, over the years.”
After the State painted over the Pride flag crosswalk at Central and 25th Street, the couple painted Schorr’s house-next door (five blocks west) with the identical design.
Indeed. While the State of Florida was painting over the rainbow Pride flag at the intersection of Central and 25th over Labor Day weekend 2025, Schorr and his longtime girlfriend Chrissy Auger got busy painting the identical design on the Schorr-owned house adjacent to the Craftsman House.
Schorr’s intention is to ditch his six-days-a-week retail shift and work with Auger, Ink., Chrissy’s IT/AI writing company (most recently, she’s been helping job applicants navigate the tricky business of composing optimum resumes and covers letters that can be read and synopsized by computers, which is more or less the way of the world now).
Auger has taught at the University of South Florida, and will teach – not for the first time – at Eckerd College come spring semester.
They haven’t decided where they’re going to live just yet, but it will definitely be somewhere in Pinellas County.
“I still intend to be involved, in different ways, in the art community,” Schorr said. “I’ll have a booth at Localtopia, I’ll have a booth at the Green Thumb Festival.
“Everything I sell here is handmade by American artists; we’re probably three-quarters national artists, and a quarter local. And I think as I go forward I may shift more towards local artists, and trying to help them.”
The Craftsman House concert series will also continue, at the Jack Kerouac House (Schorr is a board member there as well).
They intend to travel soon to upstate New York, to visit Schorr’s parents. “Owning a retail business anchors you, where you can’t travel,” he pointed out.
Current Craftsman House inventory will be moderately discounted until most of it is gone.
The St. Petersburg art community hasn’t seen the last of Jeff Schorr, however, not by a longshot.
“The arts were a big part of the transformation of St. Petersburg,” he said. “It wasn’t the only thing, but it definitely was a big part. A lot of us who were scratching and clawing back then know that. It’s still not easy to be an artist in St. Pete, but there’s a lot more opportunities. It’s also a lot more expensive to live, so that can be tough.
“One thing that differentiates St. Pete is just the pride in St. Pete. I just don’t see that in Tampa.”
Rendering from real estate developer Bob Roberts’ Loopnet listing.
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