| Dixie Walesbilt Hotel | |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
 | |
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| Location | Lake Wales, Florida |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 27°54′7″N 81°35′24″W / 27.90194°N 81.59000°W / 27.90194; -81.59000 |
| Built | 1926 |
| Architect | Fred A. Bishop |
| Architectural style | Masonry Vernacular with Mediterranean Revival elements |
| MPS | Lake Wales MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 90001273 |
| Added to NRHP | August 31, 1990 |
The Dixie Walesbilt Hotel (also known as the Hotel Walesbilt) is a historic hotel in Lake Wales, Florida, United States located at 5 Park Avenue West and/or 115 North 1st Street. The Walesbilt Hotel was renamed the Hotel Grand by the New York owner Victor Khubani during the 1980s. The structure was built in 1926 after a stock-sale campaign in the local business community. It opened on January 14, 1927, two years before Edward Bok's famous Bok Tower was completed nearby. Original owners included then Governor Martin of Florida and silent screen star Thomas Meighan along with a consortium of other actors/actresses including Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and Clara Bow as well as famous Hollywood attorney Nathan Burkan and Hollywood Producer Victor Heerman.
The interior of the building was even more ornate than the exterior. It featured shopping arcades, Italian-made ceilings and column capitals, a drinking fountain by Ernest A. Batchelder, Georgia Pink and Vermont Verde antique marble floors by Georgia Marble Company, a wrought iron balustrade, and a central mezzanine. Construction is of steel-reinforced poured concrete in post-and-beam method, without bearing walls. The building suffered only superficial damage during the hurricanes of 2004.
On August 31, 1990, the hotel was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
In 1995 it was sold at auction and closed. The interior was partially dismantled for reconstruction, which was never completed. In February 2010, a redevelopment agreement was proposed between the City of Lake Wales and a private sector developer led by Ray Brown to return the hotel to its original finishes and repurpose the building as 19,500 square foot Boutique Hotel with commercial space.
References
- ^ "National Register of Historical Places - Florida (FL), Polk County". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-03-06.
- ^ "Grand Hotel". Florida Heritage Tourism Interactive Catalog. Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs. 2007-03-06. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10.
External links
- Polk County listings, Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
- , Modern Cities
- City of Lake Wales
- Abandoned Florida
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- Hotel buildings completed in 1926
- Buildings and structures in Lake Wales, Florida
- National Register of Historic Places in Polk County, Florida
- Defunct hotels in Florida
- Vernacular architecture in Florida
- 1926 establishments in Florida
- Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida
- Hotels in Florida
- Polk County, Florida Registered Historic Place stubs