HISTORIC GEM WAITING FOR A COMEBACK IN LAKE WALES, FLORIDA
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
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.
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.
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