Thomas Center

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Hotel Thomas

| nrhp_type =

| image = thomas-center-gville04.jpg

| caption = Western entrance to the Thomas Center

| location = 302 NE 6th Ave.,
Gainesville, Florida

| coordinates = {{coord|29.6573|-82.3220|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Florida#USA

| area =

| built = 1910

| architect = William Augustus Edwards

| architecture = Classical Revival

| added = July 16, 1973

| refnum = 73000563{{NRISref|2007a}}

}}

{{Commons|Thomas Center in Gainesville}}

The Thomas Center, formerly known as Hotel Thomas and Sunkist Villa, is an historic building in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It was built starting in 1910 in the Classical Revival style by noted Atlanta-based architect, William Augustus Edwards, designer of academic buildings at 12 institutions in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, including the original University of Florida campus, as well as a dozen or more county courthouses in those states plus other building and houses,{{Cite web |url=http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/ufarch/edwards.htm |title=University of Florida biography of William Augustus Edwards |access-date=2008-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628235817/http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/ufarch/edwards.htm |archive-date=2008-06-28 |url-status=dead }}{{NRHP url|id=64000769|title=Multiple Resource Area for 4 of the 9 South Carolina courthouses designed by William Augustus Edwards - 12 pages}}

The building began as the private home of William Reuben Thomas, his wife Kathryn, and their five children, when it was known as Sunkist Villa.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gvlculturalaffairs.org/website/facilities/tc_history.html |title=Thomas Center History and Tours |publisher=Gainesville, Florida |accessdate=2010-06-11}} In 1928 Thomas more than doubled the size of the home and converted it to a hotel. The building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on July 16, 1973, and in the following years it underwent a restoration and adaption that involved significant repairs to the structure and replacement of the original Ludowici tiles.{{cite book |last1=Diamonstein |first1=Barbaralee |title=Buildings reborn: new uses, old places |date=1978 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York |isbn=0-06-011068-6 |page=84 |url=https://archive.org/details/buildingsrebornn00diam/page/84/mode/2up}}

The Thomas Center celebrated its 100th anniversary on February 12, 2010.{{Cite news | title = Thomas Center celebrates 100th birthday | first = Andrew | last = Pantazi | url = http://alligator.org/news/campus/article_2be32a26-19e2-11df-adba-001cc4c002e0.html | newspaper = The Independent Florida Alligator | location = Gainesville | date = 14 February 2010 | accessdate = 15 February 2010 }}