Lake Wales Historic Survey
Lake Wales, FL
Downtown Lake Wales Historical Resources Survey
Project Type: Historic Preservation
Project Status: Completed | July 2022
Dates: September 2021 – July 2022
Site Area: Downtown Lake Wales
Team: Plusurbia Design
Client: Lakes Wales Main Street
Lake Wales is a rare gem in plain sight, a historic small-town Main Street in the geographic center of Florida. Downtown Lake Wales is unique as a well-planned, significantly built-out small-town commercial district from the first half of the 20th Century. In 2021, Lake Wales Main Street, Inc. applied for and was awarded a Small Matching Grant by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Historical Resources to conduct a historical resources survey of the Downtown. The project’s scope is to complete a historical resources survey of all structures within the CRA-1 boundaries built before 1972 and revisit and update the survey that formed the basis of the 1990 National Register “Lake Wales Commercial Historic District.”
This project will enable Lake Wales Main Street Inc., Downtown property owners and stakeholders, and City officials to make informed decisions regarding the impact of development and other publicly and privately funded projects on Lake Wales’ historic and cultural resources in the Downtown area, and to set priorities for the protection and use of these resources.
