A little over 100 years ago, Downtown Orlando got its first skyscraper when the 11-story Angebilt Hotel opened with one of the biggest parties in Orlando’s history.
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The opening of the $1 million hotel was front-page news in both of the city’s newspapers, the Orlando Morning Sentinel and the Evening Reporter-Star. The latter even published a special 36-page edition to celebrate the arrival of a new level of prestige and luxury that came with the Angebilt’s opening.
On March 14, 1923, the public was invited to hotel’s grand debut. The program started at 6 p.m. and continued until 3 in the morning with dining and dancing.
The Angebilt building still stands today at 37 N. Orange Ave., but it used primarily for retail space and offices.
Here is the Reporter-Star’s account of the Angebilt’s opening from its front-page story. Its headline was “Thousands inspected Angebilt Hotel as its doors were thrown open to the public last night.”
That Orange County was greatly interested in the new skyscraper hotel was amply demonstrated by the opening of the Angebilt last night.
From the moment the big doors swung open at 6 o’clock, crowds thronged the lobby and the mezzanine floor up to midnight, when the dancers from the dining room took possession of the lobby.
Mr. J.F. Ange, the founder and builder of Angebilt, mingled freely with the crowd, and on every side was the recipient of congratulations. On every hand, there was nothing but praise for the man who made possible this splendid hotel structure of which the people of this county are so justly proud.
Mr. Paul Davis, secretary of the hotel company, was on guard at every point to see that the machinery moved according to schedule. Manager Charles G. Day had the working force remarkably well organized for the opening event, and the service from the time one landed at the front door, where the neatly uniformed porters rendered a prompt and polite service, to the dining room, where a corps of trained waiters, under the direction of head waiter, Taylor Roberts, served more than a capacity crowd at dinner.
Two floors of the sleeping rooms were occupied on the opening night, and also the bridal suite.
The new desk was well organized, and the assignment of rooms and the entire service in this connection was as systematic and as orderly as though the work had been organized for months. Every department of the hotel organization was functioning like a well oiled piece of machinery. The politeness of the help all along the line, even to those in the halls on the second and third floors to guide people around, was the subject of favorable comment.
There was no mistaking the fact, however, that the crowd was a surprise to everybody. It was two or three times as large as might reasonably have been expected.
It seemed that everybody in Orlando, visitors and home folks, was out to inspect the new hotel.
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Added to these were many from other parts of the county and from Sanford and Kissimmee. Nearly half the states in the Union were represented in the crowd that came and went during that opening session.
Several New York ladies were heard to remark that last night in the Angebilt reminded them of New York City hotel scenes, both in the rich hotel furnishings and the happy, fun-seeking crowd that thronged the lobby. It was indeed a touch of real city life.
There are at the present time about 100 rooms ready for occupancy, and these are all occupied, and many people are making reservations for next year.
Guests now registered for rooms are from Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
Many people who were in the city over the last night, and who are on their way north from points south of Orlando, are among those making reservations with the Angebilt for next year.
The rich and comfortable furnishings of the lobby, the mezzanine floor, and all the rooms on every floor appeal to people who live at hotels and are willing to pay for the best that is afforded by the way of hotel accommodations.
Luxury and comfort are combined in the arrangement of the hotel and in the quality and the character of the furnishings.
The opening event of the Angebilt was such a large affair, and the attendance so greatly exceeded the most sanguine expectations of those interested, that the management is to be congratulated on the manner in which the crowd was handled by the entirely new organization, many of the waiters and porters arriving in the city from Palm Beach in Jacksonville yesterday afternoon.
About 500 guests were served in the dining rooms. Yet the crowd was well handled as an equal crowd would have been handled in a well organized hotel of any city. Everybody was good natured and happy.
The dining room took on the happy spirit of New Year’s Eve, when everybody cuts loose from dignity and enters into the spirit of the occasion, which banishes care and worry.
From every point of view, President Ange and Manager Day can feel proud of last night’s effort.
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