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Small
Town Zen
Being aware of what’s in your own front yard
Number One:
The
“Green Monster” of
Lake Wales, Florida
The
Dixie Walesbilt / Grand HotelNational
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. |
"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 |
The
Bok Tower
TE photo, January 2011 |
Another
view of the Grand Hotel
TE photo, January 2011 |
The
"green monster" peeks into most photos of downtown Lake
Wales
TE
photo, January 2011 |
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 |
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.
©
J. Stucco
February 2011
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