The Ridge Scenic Highway - Dixie Walesbilt Hotel - Lake Wales, Florida, USA. - National Scenic Byways on Waymarking.com

The US-17 Hwy is designated as a Florida Scenic Highway named 'The Ridge' the highway runs through the heart of a small town known as 'The Crown Jewel of the Ridge' called Lake Wales.

"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.
"
Text Source:-
(visit link)

Physical Address:
Grand Hotel
W. Stuart Ave.
Lake Wales, Florida. USA

Related Web Sites:
(visit link) & (visit link)

Program: US State Program Website: [Web Link] Official Name: The Ridge Scenic Highway.

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