DAN SANBORN PHOTO COLLECTION

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Title:  The New Florida Hotel

Description:  Built in 1926 and joining the Lakeland Terrace Hotel as 
                     Lakeland's only two high rise buildings, The Florida, as it was
                     originally known, reflected the unbridled optimism of boom time
                     Florida.  Unfortunately for the hotel's developers, the boom was
                     about to go bust.  The New Florida opened on September 26, 
                     1926 even though its interior was not yet finished.
                     
                     After its brief opening, the collapse of the Florida land boom
                     caused the the New Florida to close its doors.  And the Great
                     Depression kept them closed until 1935, when the Order of 
                     Railway Conductors purchase and opened the hotel.  It
                     changed hands a number of times over the years and was 
                     converted to a senior living facility in 1962.  It was renamed the
                     Regency Towers in 1981.  The building closed in 1996 and was
                     purchased by the city in 2001.  The City Commission is 
                     reviewing proposals to renovate the New Florida for use as an
                     apartment building.

Date: 1938

Photographer:  Dan Sanborn

Subjects:   Architecture--Buildings--Hotels
                 Lakeland, FL--Buildings--Hotels
                 Lakeland, FL--New Florida Hotel

Collection:  Dan Sanborn Photo Collection, P720, p0691

Format:  The master image is a 400ppi. tiff file.

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