place

Lake Wales, Florida

1911 establishments in FloridaCities in FloridaCities in Polk County, FloridaLake Wales, FloridaPopulated places established in 1911
Use mdy dates from July 2023
Bok Tower rear
Bok Tower rear

Lake Wales is a city in Polk County, Florida. It is part of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 16,361 at the 2020 census.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Lake Wales, Florida (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Lake Wales, Florida
Florida Avenue,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Lake Wales, FloridaContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 27.919444444444 ° E -81.596111111111 °
placeShow on map

Address

Lake Wales Ridge Wildlife and Environmental Area

Florida Avenue
33885
Florida, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Bok Tower rear
Bok Tower rear
Share experience

Nearby Places

Dixie Walesbilt Hotel
Dixie Walesbilt Hotel

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/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. 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. In 1995 it was sold at auction and closed. The interior was partially dismantled for reconstruction, which was never completed. In February 2010, a redevelopment agreement was proposed between the City of Lake Wales and a private sector developer led by Ray Brown to return the hotel to its original finishes and repurpose the building as 19,500 square foot Boutique Hotel with commercial space.