Dixie Walesbilt Hotel

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Dixie Walesbilt Hotel
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Lake Wales, Florida
Built/Founded:	1926[1]
Architect:	D.J. Phipps, Fred Bishop[1][2]
Architectural style(s):	Masonry Vernacular with Mediterranean Revival elements[1]
Added to NRHP:	August 31, 1990
NRHP Reference#:	90001273[2]
Governing body:	Local

The Dixie Walesbilt Hotel (also known as the Grand Hotel) is a historic hotel in Lake Wales, Florida, United States located at 115 North 1st Street. The Walesbilt Hotel was renamed the Grand by a New York owner during the 1980's. The structure was built in 1926 after a stock-sale campaign in the local business community. It opened in January 1927, two years before Edward Bok's famous Bok Tower was completed nearby. In 1995 it was sold at auction and closed, then the interior was partially dismantled for reconstruction, which was never completed. It is under contract to be sold as of June 2006 but negotiations are ongoing for government subsidies to provide parking or other incentives to make the project feasible. Rapid appreciation of real estate in the area is helping but rising construction costs are hurting the project.

The interior of the building is even more ornate than the exterior, featuring shopping arcades, Italian-made ceilings and column capitals, marble and wrought iron, a central atrium, etc. Construction is of steel-reinforced poured concrete in post-and-beam method, without bearing walls. It suffered only superficial damage during the hurricanes of 2004. On August 31, 1990 it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Polk County listings, Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs