The West Beach Hotel and the Blue Anchor Night Club on Lake Lotela
Material Continuity: Salvaging the Hotel Verona (1927)
The West Beach Hotel represented a direct physical link to Avon Park’s nineteenth-century founding architecture. In the early morning hours of 2 February 1927, the historic Hotel Verona—a three-story frame hostelry constructed in 1887–1889 on Lake Verona from native longleaf pine sawed at John C. Burleigh’s Lake Brentwood mill—was completely destroyed by fire[star-1927-02-02][keowee-1927-02-09].
While the hotel was a total operational loss ($100,000 estimated damages), substantial structural heart-pine timbers survived the conflagration[star-1927-02-02]. Local building contractor Arthur Hatchel salvaged these dense native timbers from the ruins for reuse in lakefront building projects around the town[maxwell-1976].
Construction on Lake Lotela
Utilizing the heavy salvaged timbers of the Verona, Hatchel constructed the West Beach Hotel on the western shore of Lake Lotela along South Highlands Avenue[maxwell-1976]. The hotel was strategically situated adjacent to the early Avon Park Golf Club, an 18-hole recreational facility on Lake Lotela that occupied the property where the Florida Power Corporation later erected its municipal generating substation[maxwell-1976].
With its proximity to the golf course and expansive water frontage, the West Beach Hotel served winter visitors and golfers during the late 1920s and 1930s, offering a more intimate lakefront alternative to the large in-town commercial hostelries like the Hotel Jacaranda and the Highlands Lakes Hotel[maxwell-1976].
The Blue Anchor Night Club
Following the decline of winter tourist patronage during the Great Depression, the hotel was repurposed as a seasonal dining, dancing, and entertainment venue known as the Blue Anchor night club[maxwell-1976]. Like the floating pavilion and overwater casino at the Highlands Lakes Hotel on Lake Lillian, the Blue Anchor operated as a lively lakeside social club during the 1930s and World War II, catering to local residents, winter club members, and military personnel stationed at the Lodwick Aviation Military Academy and the Avon Park Army Airfield[maxwell-1976].
The Teppert Modernization and Residential Subdivision
In the late 1940s, following the conclusion of the war, the property was acquired by Edward A. Teppert, an Avon Park commercial dealer and Electrolux distributor[maxwell-1976][fl-post-1948-teppert]. Teppert undertook a comprehensive remodeling and modernization campaign, investing significant capital to upgrade the building for residential and hospitality use[maxwell-1976].
As postwar demand shifted from wooden seasonal lake resorts toward permanent single-family residential properties, the hotel building was eventually dismantled, and the valuable lakeside frontage on South Highlands Avenue was platted and sold for private waterfront homesites[maxwell-1976].
Related
- Hotel Verona
- Hotels and winter visitors of Avon Park
- The Fire of 2 February 1927 and the Destruction of Hotel Verona
- Hotel Jacaranda
References
- 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
- star-1927-02-02 — Associated Press, in Evening Star. Hotel Verona at Avon Park, Fla. Destroyed by Fire, Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 2 February 1927, page 12. 2 February 1927. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1927-02-02/ed-1/?sp=12
- keowee-1927-02-09 — Keowee Courier. Avon Park Hotel Burns, Keowee Courier (Pickens, S.C.), 9 February 1927, page 3. 9 February 1927. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn86063784/1927-02-09/ed-1/?sp=3
- fl-post-1948-teppert — United States Postal Service / Local Commercial Records. Commercial and Postal Records of Edward A. Teppert, Avon Park, Florida. 1948. Avon Park Historical Society vertical files / Postal History Archive
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
- Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1976) · book
- Associated Press, in Evening Star, Hotel Verona at Avon Park, Fla. Destroyed by Fire, Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 2 February 1927, page 12 (1927) · newspaper
- Keowee Courier, Avon Park Hotel Burns, Keowee Courier (Pickens, S.C.), 9 February 1927, page 3 (1927) · newspaper
- United States Postal Service / Local Commercial Records, Commercial and Postal Records of Edward A. Teppert, Avon Park, Florida (Avon Park Historical Society vertical files / Postal History Archive) (1948) · official
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