Execu-Suites Features

It drew Hollywood stars, prominent businessmen and visitors from every state and foreign country. Over the decades, it survived a hurricane, a fire, bankruptcy and several investors. But in the end, the landmark Angebilt Hotel at 37 North Orange Avenue in Downtown Orlando is remembered as a classy hotel that served as the center of the city’s social activity.

It was common to see people in their finest dress heading to the Angebilt for dinner and then heading across the street to the movies. The Junior League often met there and Orlando High School held its dances on the sky roof. The Angebilt and the San Juan Hotel across the street had the reputation as the two best hotels in the city.

The Angebilt Hotel was an example of Twentieth Century Commercial style by Murry S. King, the first registered architect in Florida. The hotel was modeled after the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York. The two-year project was completed for Joseph Fenner Ange at a cost of one million dollars. Ange moved to Orlando in 1913 from North Carolina and wanted to build the first major downtown building.

When it opened on March 14, 1923, the 11-story building featured 250 rooms in a U-shaped design. At the time, it was considered to be the only fireproof hotel in Orlando. It was opulence and elegance that the city had never seen. Anyone who could find a tuxedo or evening dress attended the greatest social event in Orlando on opening night. The lobby and 10th floor dining rooms were adorned in mosaic-tiled floors, and traverse curtains of silky mohair with heavy brocade overdrapes decorated the hallways. The dining room was adorned in a Parisian style. The mezzanine table lamps were shaded with Tiffany glass. Stairways with iron banisters led guests to a beauty salon or barber shop, solarium, drug store, men’s store, air-conditioned coffee shop, dining room and a cocktail lounge. Every room and floor, from top to bottom, featured rich décor and looked like the best that money could buy. From the sky roof, guests could take in the views of Lake Eola Park on one side and Orlando’s main street on the other.

The hotel didn’t spare any expense when it came to publicity, describing the luxury awaiting visitors in sunny Orlando. Travel brochures and agencies touted the accommodations and Orlando’s warm weather. During the winter of 1952-53, guests could stay at the Angebilt in a single room with a bath for $4.00 to $8.00. A double room with a bath would run $7.00 to $12.00, and a suite would cost $15.00 to $20.00. But despite the exquisite accommodations, the hotel was plagued by financial problems from the beginning. Ange sold his interest in the hotel just two months after the opening; three months after the opening, its owners filed for bankruptcy. This was the beginning of the hotel’s financial troubles that contributed to its deterioration years later.

Still, the hotel was the place to be and be seen for dozens of celebrites and notables. One of the more famous legends of celebrity notoriety—as told by Tyndale Cobb Jr., the hotel’s assistant managers in 1923—recalls the story of three men who came to the hotel under a veil of secrecy with their chauffeur. The chauffeur walked up to the registration desk and reserved the hotel’s suite, its most expensive room. Cobb says he bacame suspicious and, having never seen the men, ordered an employee to watch their rooms during the night. When the men walked through the lobby on the way out, Cobb overhead a passerby remark, “There’s Henry Ford.” Turns out, the hotel hosted Ford, Harvey Firestone and Thomas Edison, who stopped at the Angebilt Hotel on their way to Edison’s home in Ft. Myers.

Hollywood royalty and Florida dignitaries also held affairs at the Angebilt. In 1961, Pepsi-Cola hosted a reception when it opens a new bottling plant in Orlando. Among those attending the fuction was Mrs. Joan Crawford Steele, the Academy Award-winning actress who assumed responsibilities on the board after the death of her husband, Alfred, the company’s CEO.

But perhaps the most famous “face” at the hotel happened to be the first person guests would meet during their stay. Charlie Williams served as a doorman and porter with the hotel for more than 40 years. Decked out in a smartly adorned uniform and cap, Williams was quick to greet guests with a smile and a special step—a showman extraordinaire. Williams was part of the original construction crew that helped build the hotel. But during the construction, a piece of scaffolding hit Williams in the left eye, blinding him. Ange promised him that as long as there was an Angebilt Hotel, Williams would have a job there. Local legends grew up around Williams during his tenure at the hotel; one said Williams originated the idea of putting flowers in hotel restrooms. He was featured in several newspaper articles and met with local officials, who bestowed honeors and thanked him for his service.

But the golden era of the hotel was about to come to an end. The Angebilt Hotel endured a series of setbacks over the last few decades. In 1944, a devastating hurricane hit Orlando, ripping off the roof of the ballroom on the top floor, scattering debris over the city. In the 1970s, the aging hotel was known as a flophouse and a seedy residence where prostitutes, drifters and hippies were often seen. The owners invested millions in renovations to bring the original luster of the hotel back, but in 1983, a fire swept through the hotel’s 10th and 11th floors, forcing the owners to close down for a year. After a cost of nearly $9 million, the building reopened. With new offices and shops, The Bank of Orange and Trust Company, two radio stations, several restaurants and a smoothie shop have called the Angebilt home. There’s also Room 3 Nine, a restaurant and bar that plays on the historic hotel’s rooms as well as its famous Orange Avenue address.