Marion Hotel - Ocala, FL
N 29° 11.284 W 082° 08.222
17R E 389450 N 3229357
The historic Marion Hotel is located at 108 North Magnolia Avenue in Ocala, Florida, USA.
Waymark Code: WM4PGH
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 09/15/2008
Views: 16
From a
Florida Division of Historical Resources website:
Ocala. MARION HOTEL. 108 N. Magnolia Ave. 1927. Mediterranean Revival. Peebles and Ferguson, architects. 7 stories, with flanking 2-story wings, masonry, stuccoed, red tile roof. One of the last remaining Mediterranean Revival buildings of the 1920s within the county. Private. N.R. 1980.
From a City of Ocala website:
The Spanish Colonial Revival Style former Marion Hotel building, today known as the Sovereign Building, was designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm of Peebles and Ferguson who designed a number of hotels throughout the south, including Hotel Lorraine and the Hotel Monticello in Norfolk, Virginia. The hotel's builder was Day and Zimmerman, Inc. The costs of construction were completely financed by the sale of stock certificates to local citizens by the Community Hotel Corporation. Dr. James E. Chace, a former mayor of Ocala, and Horace L. Smith, Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, led the effort to have a first-class hotel erected in the city to accommodate tourists and traveling salesmen. A decision was made to construct a 100 room fireproof hotel and supporting structures. A method of financing the hotel was developed and the Hotel Committee of the Chamber of Commerce formed a Citizens Sales Organization with 140 volunteers who sold stock in the Community Hotel Corporation. Funding for construction was raised in less than six weeks, for a total amount of $500,000, with most of the shares being purchased by local residents.
The design of the seven-story concrete and steel hotel included stucco walls, with decorative Spanish elements. A central tower rises above the top floor of the main block flanked by two-story wings. At the time of completion, an automobile garage for the use by guests, the Hotel Marion Garage, was also erected adjacent to the main structure.
The hotel opened with a gala celebration in early March, 1927 with 300 people in attendance. When the hotel first opened it was managed by Griner Corporation, of which movie actor Thomas Meighan and Governor John W. Martin served on the Board of Directors.