The 1911 Gainesville federal courthouse — its basement once held prisoner cells — now stages professional theater while staff report apparitions in the third-floor hallway
25 SE 2nd Pl, Gainesville, FL 32601
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Show tickets vary by production; cinema and gallery free or low-cost. See thehipp.org for current pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic downtown building with elevator access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1911 · National Register of Historic Places — July 10, 1979 (Ref. 79000659) · Designed by federal architects John Young and James Knox Taylor, Beaux Arts style · Former U.S. Post Office (1st floor) and Federal Courthouse (2nd floor) · Founding of Hippodrome Theatre 1973
The building at 25 SE 2nd Place in Gainesville was designed by federal architects John Young and James Knox Taylor in the Beaux Arts style and completed in 1911. It served a dual purpose typical of federal construction in the era: the U.S. Post Office occupied the ground floor, while the second floor housed the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The basement was fitted with prisoner holding cells connected to the court operations above.
The building's federal function eventually migrated to newer facilities. In 1973, a group of local actors founded the Hippodrome Theatre, converting the vacant building into a performing arts venue. The transformation preserved the building's architectural shell while gutting and reconfiguring the interior for theatrical use. The Hippodrome was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 10, 1979 (reference no. 79000659) — one of the earlier Florida performing arts venues to receive that designation.
The venue underwent significant renovation in 2020 (over $324,000) and has operated continuously as a regional professional theater. Its 268-seat thrust stage and 75-seat cinema make it one of the more complete performing arts facilities in north-central Florida. One of the building's more unusual features, a manually operated elevator described as among the oldest working elevators in Florida, was taken out of service in January 2024 for repairs.
Sources
The paranormal accounts at the Hippodrome center on the upper floors of the building — the spaces farthest from the converted theater floor and closest to the building's courthouse-era function. Bob Robins, who worked as a lighting designer at the Hippodrome for 34 years, is the most frequently cited staff witness. He reported encountering apparitions in the third-floor hallway on multiple occasions, describing figures that appeared solid before vanishing.
Staff accounts attribute some of the building's presences to the prisoner holding cells that occupied the basement during the courthouse years. The cells are no longer accessible in their original configuration, but the idea that men were held there pending legal proceedings in the court directly above — and that some faced serious sentences — has become part of the venue's interpretive folklore.
A second category of accounts describes a female figure connected to the courthouse's history: variously identified as a grieving mother or a relative of a prisoner, present in the building during a period when the court's business would have included capital proceedings. These accounts are less specific than the Robins sightings and derive primarily from ghost tour literature.
The Hippodrome has been included in Gainesville-area haunted places lists and referenced in local news coverage of regional paranormal sites. No formal published investigation report from a named organization has been located.
The 268-seat thrust-stage theatre presents professional theater, Broadway productions, and off-Broadway shows. A 75-seat cinema screens art-house films. Box office: 352-375-4477, Wednesday-Sunday 12-7pm.
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