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Small
Town Zen
Being aware of what’s in your own front yard
Number 1:
The “Green
Monster” of
Lake Wales, Florida
The Dixie Walesbilt / Grand Hotel
National Register
of Historic Places
115 North 1st Street, Lake Wales, Florida
“You can’t miss it.”
by Johnny Stucco |
First
of all, I didn’t call it the Green Monster, but evidently there are
people in Lake
Wales who do. It has also been called an “eyesore” according to
the local newspaper.
It wasn’t green originally and it was never intended to be a monster
or eyesore. It’s original color was tan (so I read) and for awhile
(until the Florida boom collapsed and the Great Depression arrived)
it was “the” place to be and be seen in Lake
Wales. |
The Dixie Walesbilt
/ Grand Hotel
TE photo, January 2011 |
Grand Hotel architectural
details
TE photo, January 2011 |
Constructed as
the Dixie Walesbilt Hotel, it opened in January of 1927. This
was two years before the nearby (and slightly more famous) Bok Tower
was completed. After 1929 tens of thousands of people visited the
latter – most of them staying at the former.
The building was renamed the Grand Hotel in the 1980s but the
lofty name didn’t help. Neither did its being listed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1990. After years of neglect and standing
vacant, the D-W Grand was acquired, somewhat reluctantly, by the City
of Lake
Wales in 2007. |
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"The Dixie
Walesbilt / Grand doesn’t dominate the skyline of Lake
Wales – it is the skyline of Lake
Wales. Lovingly remembered in a finely-detailed, recently-painted
downtown mural, the building is shown in its current pale green
color – not the original tan. It’s not historically accurate, but
I’m told these things are done to avoid confusion." - J.
Stucco, February 2011
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The Bok Tower
TE photo, January 2011 |
Another view
of the Grand Hotel
TE photo, January 2011 |
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The "green
monster" peeks into most photos of downtown Lake
Wales
TE
photo, January 2011
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The newly restored
Hotel Floridan in downtown Tampa
Another National Register Hotel built the same time as the Dixie
Walesbuilt, the restoration of this hotel (19 stories) cost an estimated
$20 Million.
TE photo, January 2011
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In 2010 hope
for the monster arrived in the form of investors who wanted to restore
the building to its former glory. The plan was to invest $6 million
in the building, putting retail stores on the ground floor and using
the upper floors for as many as 40 condominiums. Upon completion,
the city would deed the property to the investors.
According to a newspaper article from early 2010, work was due to
start within “a few months” but a visit in January of 2011 found only
a chain link fence and warning signs.
It is hoped by many that a solution can be found. Perhaps the recent
restoration of the (much) larger Settles
Hotel in Big
Spring, Texas will serve as an example. Another consideration
might be conversion to a retirement hotel like San
Antonio’s Robert E. Lee or the successful Hotel Beaumont in downtown
Beaumont, Texas.
© John
Troesser
February
2011
More Small Town Zen |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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