The Monne brothers (also referred to as Monett) Robert & Evaristo, built this three-story 32,800 sq. ft. building designed by C. E. Parcell in 1888 to house the R. Monne & Bro. cigar factory.  It is one of only two remaining wood-framed cigar factory buildings in Tampa, the other being the Salvador Rodriguez factory building.  The building was home to R. Monne & Bro. from 1888 to 1899 although in 1892 they shared the building with Fernandez & Saxby Co. for an undetermined time.  In 1894, R. Monne & Bro. opened a small branch factory in West Tampa, it was damaged by a storm on September 6, 1894 it closed and never reopened.  

This factory building housed the Cuban American Mfg. Co. between 1899-1902, Jose Lovera & Co. between 1902-1921 who initially shared the building with E. A. Kline & Co., the Nordacs Cigar Co. between 1924-1925, Marcelino Perez & Co. between 1926-1941 and Lopez, Alvarez & Co., who from 1947 to 1960 manufactured the Swann Cigar brand under contract here. Its last use related to the cigar industry was by Oliva Tobacco Co. who was a cigar distributor though not a manufacturer.  The Oliva Tobacco Co. was headquartered here from 1980 to 1999 and later used the building as a warehouse.  Currently the Oliva Tobacco Co. offices are at the Garcia & Vega building in West Tampa. 

Originally, the 50’ x 200’ building at 19th St. & Palm Ave. had seven windows across the front and approximately twenty eight on each floor along the north and south sides that provided ample light for the factory’s workers, typical characteristic of cigar factories in those days.  As can be seen from the pictures below, at one point in time the number of windows on the side were substantially reduced by the installation of siding.  The second set of pictures taken January 2017 show the original number of windows on the north side.

The building utilization followed the typical use in most all cigar factory buildings in the area; the first floor contained offices with the rest of the floor space available for the packing department, rolling took place on the second floor where there was room for 1,200 rolling tables and a stripping department and drying racks were located on the third floor for sorting and selecting the tobacco blends.  Separate additions were built for the warehousing and casing of the tobacco bales. 

A history of the building and the "Home of Swann Cigars" sign painted on its front can be found in an article on the Tampa Tribune edition of March 13, 2015.  According to this article, the building will be home to thirty eight apartments when completed and be named Casa Oliva in honor of Angel Oliva Sr., its longtime former owner and tobacco distribution giant.  In 2018, restoration into thirty eight apartment units was completed as can be seen on the first picture below.