Nestled in the heart of Gainesville, Florida, the historic Thomas Center is the perfect spot for a visit at any time of the year. The idyllic climate and beautiful surroundings make a visit to our facility and the surrounding community a splendid place to spend an afternoon, a day or an extended stay.
Sunkist Villa: Family Home
Construction for what is now known as the Thomas Center began in 1906 and was completed in 1910 and was named Sunkist Villa. Major William Reuben Thomas, his wife Kathryn and their five children made the impressive estate their home for 15 years.
Major W.R. Thomas: Innovative Thinker 
Major Thomas began his career as an educator and later pursued his other interests which included general merchandising, banking, hotels, land development, retail furniture sales and politics. Thomas served as an alderman, mayor and senator. Major Thomas played a key role in ensuring the growth and economic sustainability of the city by spearheading the committee to bring the University of Florida to Gainesville.
The Hotel Thomas: Thriving Business 
With the addition of a three-story wing, the family home was remodeled into a Mediterranean Revival-style hotel with Italian Renaissance decorative motifs. The Hotel Thomas opened on Jan. 10, 1928. Its 94 guest rooms, three dining rooms and four lounges were the preferred lodgings of many distinguished guests including Helen Keller, Robert Frost, visiting athletic teams, vacationing tourists, wandering businessmen and newly employed university professors. The beautiful-landscaped grounds and gardens provided space for quiet walks, garden parties and annual Easter egg hunts.
Santa Fe Junior College: Educational Facility
In 1968, the Thomas family decided to sell the property. The new owners leased the buildings and grounds to Santa Fe Junior College for seven years.
The Thomas Center: Cultural Hub
In 1972 when a rezoning request went before the city’s planning board to raze the hotel, the neighborhood residents began a resistance movement. The site was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1973 and was purchased by the City of Gainesville in 1974. The original house was restored and designated as a cultural center.
This grand building is the setting for two magnificent art galleries, multiple period rooms and numerous historical exhibits. Its meeting rooms and performance spaces are sought-after venues for weddings, conference and social events. The Thomas Center provides a versatile space which contributes to the cultural, civic and social life of Gainesville.
For more information on the Thomas Center and tours, please contact us at 352-393-8539 or tcevents@gainesvillefl.gov.
For a virtual tour, please visit the Thomas Center Associates website.
Thomas Center Tours
Parlor / Lounge
The typical decor of the 1920s is recreated in this museum room. A fashionable living room — or hotel lounge — might contain a variety of styles which were mass-produced adaptations of earlier European and American styles. Favorite indoor pastimes are suggested by the items in the room. This period room illustrates Major Thomas’ philosophy of making his guests feel at home by providing large, inviting public spaces. In fact, some of the family’s parlor pieces, including the piano, were kept when the room was converted to the hotel lounge. When Gainesville “went wet” in 1963, this room took on yet another identity as part of the Cornish Arms Cocktail Lounge. The adjacent porch was enclosed to enlarge the space and the enterprise was awarded liquor permit #1 in Alachua County. It remained in business until the hotel closed in 1968 — with the old family piano still in its accustomed place!
Major Thomas' Office
By enclosing a north section of Sunkist Villa’s porch, a private office for Major Thomas and an adjacent main office and registration desk for Hotel Thomas were created. The hotel office and front desk areas were converted to restrooms in the ’70s rehabilitation. The Major’s Private Office has been recreated in its original space as a typical 1920s/’30s office.
Major Thomas' Bedroom
The Major used this large, well-proportioned room as his bedroom when the family moved into the newly-completed home in 1910. Later, when he modified Sunkist Villa and added a new wing to create Hotel Thomas, he “modernized” his room by refurnishing at the same time he was ordering stylish pieces for the new hotel. Family members have shared recollections and artifacts to help the Thomas Center Associates recreate this museum room. The furnishings and their arrangement not only illustrate the decorating trends of the time, they also reflect the Major’s own habits and personal touches, such as the photographs of his parents, his wife, Katie, and other family members. His old cedar box, a family Bible, a comfortable Morris chair and his ever-present cigars help us envision his private retreat at the end of a busy day.
From season to season, the gardens of the historic Thomas Center provide a cool oasis to escape summer’s heat, as well as sunny areas to escape winter’s chill. Varied plantings herald the change of the seasons. Colorful camellias brighten our mid-winter, followed by the blooming azaleas of early spring. Next, come the dogwoods of late spring with their white blossoms. Finally, beautiful roses usher us into summer. Throughout the gardens, ferns and palms provide a greenery backdrop to majestic live oak and magnolia trees.
The gardens were designed as an extension of the Thomas Center’s rehabilitation, which started in 1974. In 1978, following the buildings’ restoration, a restoration plan was designed, retaining the gardens’ historic cultural landscape, but allowing for modern uses and conditions.
Explore the Historic Thomas Center’s gardens on the virtual tour at the Thomas Center Associates website: www.thomascenterassociates.org
Garden Gallery