Boom-era investors: E. M. Brickell, John Raab, and Harry Winter
During the Florida land boom of the 1920s, the physical transformation of downtown Avon Park from a rural citrus outpost into a modern resort municipality was accelerated by external capital from northern urban centers, particularly Pittsburgh and Chicago.[nrhp-90000486]
Three prominent investors—Edward M. Brickell, John Raab, and Harry Winter—funded the town’s most ambitious commercial and hospitality structures, establishing its Mediterranean Revival and Masonry Vernacular core.
E. M. Brickell and the Brickell Building
E. M. Brickell, a real estate investor from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, provided the capital for the construction of the Brickell Building at 2–12 East Main Street (erected 1919–1921).[nrhp-90000486] The substantial two-story polychrome brick commercial block, situated directly opposite the 1912 First National Bank, featured ground-floor retail spaces and a 300-seat second-floor auditorium that served as Avon Park’s Town Council chamber, lodge hall, and civic social center throughout the 1920s.[maxwell-1976]
Brickell’s development had a lasting architectural consequence: he engaged William J. Heim, then a practicing Pittsburgh architect, to draw the plans.[nrhp-90000486] Impressed by the growth potential of the Lake Wales Ridge, Heim relocated his practice permanently to Avon Park in 1920, establishing his office on the second floor of the Brickell Building and subsequently designing nearly every major public and commercial edifice erected in the town over the next two decades, including the Hotel Jacaranda, the Pinecrest Hotel, the 1929 City Hall, and the 1935 Park Theater.[nrhp-90000486][nrhp-00000266]
John Raab and Harry Winter: The Hotel Jacaranda
In late 1923, as winter tourist traffic surged following the establishment of Highlands County, Chicago developer Harry Winter and architectural engineer John Raab formed the investment syndicate that financed the construction of the Hotel Jacaranda at 7–23 East Main Street.[nrhp-90000486]
Raab brought significant professional pedigree to the project as a former associate of legendary Chicago architect and urban planner Daniel H. Burnham (famed for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the Plan of Chicago).[nrhp-90000486] Working with Heim as architect and Tampa contractor G. A. Miller, the syndicate erected a four-story, 120-room Mediterranean Revival luxury hotel with an interior arcade, private baths, and a 250-seat dining room, opening for the spring tourist season in early 1926.[nrhp-90000486]
The Collapse of the Land Boom
The speculative zenith of 1925 quickly reversed following the September 1926 Great Miami Hurricane and the onset of the statewide real estate deflation. Both Raab and Winter suffered catastrophic financial losses when local banking institutions failed, culminating in the closure of the First National Bank and the February 1929 failure of the Avon Park State Bank.[nrhp-90000486]
Forced to forfeit their equity interests in the hotel property during receivership proceedings, Raab and Winter relinquished control to local receivers and mortgage holders, mirroring the broader cycle of boom-era northern capital influx followed by post-crash local restructuring.[nrhp-90000486]
References
- nrhp-90000486 — National Park Service / Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Avon Park Historic District. 22 March 1990. nrhp-avon-park-historic-district-1990.md
- nrhp-00000266 — National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Old Pinecrest Hotel, Avon Park. 24 March 2000. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/d3eaa10c-7fe9-4298-af1c-11123bb9c20b
- maxwell-1976 — Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida. 1976. the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md
Related
- Entity: The Brickell Building
- Entity: Hotel Jacaranda
- Entity: William J. Heim
- Report: Main Street’s buildings and the City Hall
- Reference: National Register nomination, Avon Park Historic District
Where this comes from
- Evidence
- corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
- Review
- unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
- Rights
- society
Sources
- National Park Service / Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Avon Park Historic District (1990)
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Old Pinecrest Hotel, Avon Park (2000)
- Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1976)
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