Built as an ethnic and cultural clubhouse in 1912, the red brick structure situated at 1526–1536 East 7th Avenue[3] is today part of a shopping and entertainment complex.

[5] It remains one of the few surviving structures specific to Spanish immigration to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries,[7] a legacy which garnered the Centro Español building recognition as a U.S. National Historic Landmark (NHL) on June 3, 1988.

Immigrants from Spain (including some by way of Cuba) to the bustling factory town of Ybor City in 1891 established El Centro Español as the first of several ethnic social club and mutual aid society organizations.

[3] The organization's first clubhouse, an ornately constructed frame structure flanked by two towers, was built in 1892 on the site of the present Centro Español building, and featured a theater, dance hall, canteen, soda fountain, and classrooms, where English courses were offered.

Factors such as Prohibition, the Great Depression, and restrictions in immigration curtailed the influx of potential new membership, and sent much of the area's existing population looking for work elsewhere.

[5] The Centro Español building was designed by Francis J. Kennard,[3] an architect who was responsible, either solely or in part, for many Tampa Bay area structures now considered to be of historic importance, including Hillsborough High School,[10] St. Andrews Episcopal Church,[11] and the Belleview-Biltmore Hotel.