The Antonio Del Rio Building, also known as the Llano Building, at 1514 - 1518 8th Ave, was constructed in 1903 by Antonio del Rio. The property was originally part of the land acquired by Vicente Martínez Ybor when he relocated his cigar factory from Key West to Tampa. Del Rio helped Ybor locate the land for his factories in the 1880s. In 1891, Josefa Garcia purchased the lot and later married Del Rio, who went on to build this structure. In 1913, the building was sold to Jose and Delores Fernandez-Mouriz. The couple resided on the second floor while leasing the ground floor to various local businesses.

Floridahistory.org reports that Tony Pizzo, Ybor City's favorite historian and author of Tampa Town, started his business career here.

The building was first remodeled in 1965, with layers of paint being sandblasted from the exterior. In 1975, owners of this and other buildings protested efforts by the Barrio Latino Commission to add their structure to a protected list, which would regulate what interior work could be done on historic buildings. The owners asserted it was overreach. The commission aimed to preserve the buildings and make them eligible for government loans to support restoration work. It was renovated again in 2019.

In the late 1990s, customs brokers A.J. Aranjo, Inc. moved in and still occupy the first floor. The sign on the door leading to the second floor reads “AgriVentus”, a distributor of grain dust control systems and fertilizer coating solutions. 

DelRio died in 1951.

 © Chip Weiner. All rights reserved