Dixie Walesbilt Hotel
About this property
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 hotel 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 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/actresses 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. In the 1970s, the hotel became The Hotel Royal Walesbilt. It was again renamed the Hotel Grand by New York owner Victor Khubani during the 1980s. On August 31, 1990, the hotel was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. In 1995, the hotel was sold at auction and closed. The interior was partially dismantled for reconstruction, which was never completed. The building suffered only superficial damage during the hurricanes of 2004. In 2010, an agreement was proposed between the City of Lake Wales and developer Ray Brown to restore the hotel. In 2025, the city took back ownership of the hotel, solicited developers to restore it, and chose Missouri-based Restoration St. Louis in October. Polk County listings, Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Dixie Walesbilt Hotel listed on the National Register?
Dixie Walesbilt Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 30, 1990.
What type of historic resource is Dixie Walesbilt Hotel?
Dixie Walesbilt Hotel is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Dixie Walesbilt Hotel?
The period of significance for Dixie Walesbilt Hotel is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Dixie Walesbilt Hotel?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Dixie Walesbilt Hotel will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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