The perfect space in the perfect place
The Poynter Institute’s campus, surrounded by lush Florida vegetation and swaying palm trees, is an important part of the “Poynter Magic.” Central to the experience is our building, built in 1985, where warm Honduran mahogany wood, Italian marble floors and an abundance of natural light invite visitors to relax, to think, to learn and to share ideas.
Poynter is a busy place, each year hosting thousands of visitors from a wide range of backgrounds. At any given time, groups of journalists might wander the campus with cameras, sound equipment and notebooks; engage in a lively conversation about the future of media; or work in one of the classrooms, conference spaces, or secluded seating areas. With its spacious facilities and friendly accommodations, Poynter is an increasingly popular venue for media industry gatherings, convenings and conferences.
Along with its many training courses for journalists, Poynter hosts community events, giving locals an opportunity to hear world-class writers, broadcasters, photographers, designers and other media and business innovators talk about their work. Former Washington Post editor Marty Baron, MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, Amy Walter of the “Cook Political Report with Amy Walter,” veteran TV producer Candi Carter, award-winning broadcaster Dan Rather, and NBC’s Tom Brokaw are just some of those who have spoken at Poynter.
“(The campus) is for an institution which is pointed toward the future. It should be truly modern, contemporary. It must not be trendy because trendiness does not endure. But it should excite the eye and fire the imagination. It should look new … and always look new … while at the same time seeming timeless.”
– Former Poynter President Bob Haiman,
in a 1984 memorandum to the architectural firm Jung/Brannen Associates about his vision for The Poynter Institute
About the building
Built: 1985
Dedicated: December 11, 1985
Architects: Jung/Brannen Associates of Boston
Total Square Footage: 49,000, with an addition built in 2001.
Meeting Space: Nine dedicated rooms of varying sizes can accommodate events with as few as six attendees to as many as 200. Poynter’s Great Hall can hold a dinner reception. We have full multimedia presentation capabilities, a board room and classrooms of multiple sizes.
The Great Hall: A gathering place for large meetings, dinner parties and social functions, the hall has a floor-to-ceiling view of Bayboro Harbor to the east. The hall has 2,139 square feet of space.
Skylight: A skylight rises 55 feet from a marble floor in the Great Hall to flood the area with sunlight.
Woodwork: A most remarkable facet of the building is the mahogany woodwork in the Great Hall, all of it taken from two trees felled in a Honduran jungle in 1982, about two years before construction commenced. The trees, eight feet in diameter and more than 40 feet tall, were taken out of the jungle by native lumberjacks who pulled them to a river on which they floated to port. The trees were cut into veneer slices 1/40th of an inch thick. The slices were numbered as they fell away from the saw. Months later, they were assembled in the same consecutive order as they were put up at the institute. Woodworkers call this process book-matching.
Marble and Stonework: A combination of three Italian marbles were selected from quarries outside of Verona, Italy, for the floors of the Great Hall. Around the exterior, a major element is Keystone, which comes from a long-dead underwater reef in the Florida Keys. Many of the Keystone blocks near the courtyard reveal fascinating fossils of sea creatures.
The Reflecting Pool: A gathering spot for both class time and conversation is a shallow pool on the east side of the building.
Location
The Poynter Institute
801 Third St. South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
(727) 821-9494