Est. 1928 · National Register of Historic Places · Florida Beach Heritage · WWII Military History · Roaring Twenties Architecture
Thomas Rowe was a young Londoner when he traveled to Spain and met a woman named Lucinda at the beachfront of a pink hotel. Her mother disapproved and separated them. Rowe never saw her again. He eventually immigrated to the United States and made a fortune in real estate during the Florida land boom of the 1920s.
In 1924, Rowe purchased 80 acres on St. Pete Beach for $100,000 and began construction on what he described as a tribute to his lost love. The hotel was named for Don Cesar de Bazan, the protagonist of William Vincent Wallace's opera Maritana — the opera Rowe had taken Lucinda to see on their first date in Spain.
The Don CeSar opened January 16, 1928. Its pink Mediterranean Revival facade and waterfront position made it an immediate landmark. Rowe died of a heart attack in 1940; his estranged wife Mary inherited the property.
In 1942, the U.S. Army purchased the building to use as a sub-base hospital and convalescent center for airmen returning from World War II. After the war it was recommissioned as a VA headquarters before the government vacated it in 1969. By the early 1970s, the structure had deteriorated significantly.
A citizens' group led by June Hurley-Young formed the Save the Don committee in 1971 to prevent demolition. William Bowman purchased the property in 1972 and launched a $3.5 million restoration, reopening it as a full-service resort in 1973. The National Register of Historic Places listing followed in 1974.
Extensive renovations from 2018 to 2020 updated rooms and dining. Hurricane damage required infrastructure reinforcement; the resort reopened in March 2025. The Royal Ballroom was scheduled to reopen December 31, 2025.
Sources
- https://www.doncesar.com/our-history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Don_CeSar
- https://familyvacationsus.com/floridas-most-famous-haunted-hotel-is-back-open-and-the-ghost-story-behind-it-is-pure-romance/
- https://stpetewiki.com/all-posts/the-don-ce-sar-a-castle-made-of-sand
- https://thegabber.com/the-lost-love-of-thomas-rowe/
ApparitionsPhantom soundsDoors opening/closing
Thomas Rowe lived on the fifth floor of the Don CeSar. Staff report that activity on that floor has been consistent since his death in 1940 — knocking sounds, moving doors, a presence in the corridors during hours when no guests occupy the rooms.
The Gulf-front grounds produce a more visually specific account. Guests and staff walking near the beach have independently reported a figure in a white suit — Rowe characteristically dressed in white — standing near the waterline. On approach, the figure vanishes. In some accounts, a woman in a Spanish dress stands with him.
The pairing matches the hotel's origin story. Rowe built the Don CeSar because he never reached the pink beachfront hotel he and Lucinda had promised to return to. Whether the figure seen near the water represents a projection of that story onto ambiguous visual experience, or something observed independently of the legend, is not something the available record can resolve.
The romantic framing of the Don CeSar's ghost stories — a man who built a monument to unrequited love and then haunts the grounds with the woman he never found — distinguishes the venue from the violence and tragedy that typically anchor paranormal reputations. It is one of the few haunted hotels where the ghost story functions primarily as a love story.
Notable Entities
Thomas RoweLucinda
