Puneet Varma (Editor)

Dixie Walesbilt Hotel

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Location
  
NRHP Reference #
  
90001273

MPS
  
Built
  
1926

Opened
  
1926

Added to NRHP
  
31 August 1990

Dixie Walesbilt Hotel Dixie Walesbilt Hotel Abandoned Florida

Architectural styles
  
Vernacular architecture, Mediterranean Revival architecture

Similar
  
Hastings Community Center, Old Union Depot Hotel, Old St Anastasia Catholic, Fenway Hotel, Hollywood Fashion Center

The dixie walesbilt hotel


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/actress' including Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson and Clara Bow as well as famous Hollywood attorney Nathan Burkan and Hollywood Producer Victor Heerman.

Dixie Walesbilt Hotel wwwdhrvirginiagovregistersCitiesRichmond127

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.

Dixie Walesbilt Hotel Dixie Walesbilt Hotel Wikipedia

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.

Dixie Walesbilt Hotel The Dixie Walesbilt Hotel YouTube

References

Dixie Walesbilt Hotel Wikipedia