Comfort Station

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This lovely octagonal building in Romaesque Revival style is a public restroom that was built in 1927 by the same architect that designed the Vinoy Hotel (also reported to be haunted, by the way). It was originally called “Comfort Station One,” and actually received national press when it was completed. How many public restrooms do you know that have received such accolades?

Of course, there’s a darker side – according to some, the building is haunted. More specifically, the ladies room. Indistinct figures are seen reflected in the mirrors. One tourist swears she used the restroom and struck up a conversation with an old woman in the stall next to her named Agnes – only to realize afterward that there was no one else in the bathroom with her.

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Geographic Information

Address:
210 Bayshore Dr NE
St Petersburg, FL
United States

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GPS:
27.77383428976331, -82.63130396604538
County:
Pinellas County, Florida
Nearest Towns:
Saint Petersburg, FL (2.9 mi.)
Lealman, FL (4.4 mi.)
Gulfport, FL (4.7 mi.)
West and East Lealman, FL (4.8 mi.)
Kenneth City, FL (6.1 mi.)
Pinellas Park, FL (6.3 mi.)
Gandy, FL (6.6 mi.)
South Pasadena, FL (6.6 mi.)
Saint Pete Beach, FL (7.5 mi.)
Tierra Verde, FL (8.0 mi.)

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Comments (6)

  1. the story in st petersburg is this. the designer of the building had just finished building st mary our lady of grace church on 4th street and 5th avenue south. he had a disagreement with the priest at the church and at the same tiime he got iinvited to buildd the public rest room down town. he used the same design as he had used to build the church. visit st mary’s website and you will see for yourself.

    • He actually designed the bathroom first and then the church. Bathroom was built in 1927 and the church was built in 1929.

      There’s a book called, “Ghost Stories of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Pinellas County”, that has a bunch of cool haunted history stories.

    • My family is 6 generations I’m St. Petersburg I may be able to solve the discrepancy between your story and the reply beneath.
      What actually happened is he was hired as an architect to design and build St. Mary’s. He designed the Achitecture for St. Mary’s and there was disputes and delays and so the church dumped him hiring another architect to finish the job. Of course the second guy used his original design and when it was completed he got the credit on record for both the architectural design and building that really wasn’t his.
      When he was duped out of St. Mary’s he was immediately hired by the city to design the comfort station. Knowing the guy now hired to build St. Mary’s was using his design and would be given credit for it. He decided to use the comfort station to his advantage.
      He designed the comfort station with the same design. He knew it would be completed 1st and that it would prove that it was actually his architectural design used on St. Mary’s. He also knew the church wanted this church to be lavish and one of a kind. By the time the bathroom was done and they realized it would be to late for the church to stop building and scrap it. What better way to make a mockery of the lavish design than to have it resemble the public bathroom down the road?
      He may not if gotten credit for St. Mary’s on records. But the majority of generational St. Petersburg residents know it was his design. I’d say he won in the end and it is a really rare and beautiful bathroom..

  2. I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, and I’ve been to many of the Pinellas County haunted places. Some of them are BS, as far as I’m concerned…but not this one. Back when “Sundial” was still “BayWalk”, and The Pier was a great attraction, my friends and I used to use this bathroom. One time I walked over to use this bathroom when my friends and I were hanging out over at the park across the street. One of my friends went with me, but stayed outside. I walked in and there was no one else in there. So I went into the stall, etc. etc. and I heard footsteps right outside the stall. I couldn’t see anyone, so I thought my friend was playing a joke on me. I called out, something like “Haha, very funny bro” and it sounded like someone was kind of muttering; I heard someone talking, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I flushed the toilet and walked out…there was no one there. I still thought my friend was playing a trick on me, so I just washed my hands and walked out. I didn’t see my friend out there. I looked around, then noticed she was back across the street with the rest of my friends. I felt a chill go up my spine, and I looked back at the doorway to the women’s bathroom, and there was an old woman in a long black outfit (maybe a dress, or a coat; it was dark, so I couldn’t see well). It looked like her hair was up in a bun. She just smiled at me and waved, then I blinked and she was gone. I walked back over across the street and asked my friend why she left me at the bathroom. She said she just got to the park a couple minutes ago from work. She hadn’t even walked over there with me. I’m still freaked out to use that bathroom.

  3. My husband’s family was in town a few weeks ago, and we spent a day walking around downtown St. Pete, and as we were walking back to the car, I popped into this restroom while the others waited outside. Immediately, just walking into the women’s bathroom, something felt wrong. The building is gorgeous (not something you’d think to say about a bathroom!) and was very clean, so it certainly didn’t look like your typical “something bad is going to happen here” place, but I have never felt more uncomfortable than I was inside this place. This intense, heavy feeling of dread hit me the second I started up the ramp to go inside, and even though the restroom appeared to be empty, I couldn’t shake the feeling someone else was inside. I did a quick check of the other stalls before going in one (because you can’t be too careful) and saw they were all ajar a little, and finally went in one, peeing with lightening speed.

    Not fast enough though, because someone else came in, I could hear them outside the stall, and then heard them go into the stall next to me (I chose the one closest to the exit, of course, but there were others, so why get in the one right next to the only occupied one, stranger?). Normally, knowing another person is in a spooky place with you is comforting, but this presence, for whatever reason, was not. I thought about not washing my hands, but I convinced myself I was just being stupid. I glanced in the mirror when I rinsed the soap off, the stalls behind me in the reflection, and I was admittedly relieved to not see something monstrous over my shoulder, but instead it was what I didn’t see – all the stall doors were just a tiny bit ajar and all empty – that freaked me out.

    I ran out of the bathroom, right past my family. When my husband asked me what was wrong I told him, “That place is NOT RIGHT.”

  4. Here is another place I had a weird experience in. If you think the women’s bathroom is freaky, then men’s bathroom is no different. I went in after we had a late dinner on Beach Dr. This happened back in 2012, near Christmas time. As I was in there, I could hear what sounded like muttering. I leaned down to look under the bathroom stall to see if someone was there. I looked around and saw no one. The lights also started to flicker in and out and the mirrors started to steam up. At this point, I was done and I walked out. My friend was waiting for me and he just said that I looked “sheet white”. I told him what happened and he just simply stated that he felt something rush past him, but did not see anything and just before I came out, he felt the same thing rush past him.

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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.