The Lake Placid Tower in Lake Placid, Florida, formerly named Placid Tower, Tower of Peace or Happiness Tower, is a closed observation tower tall according to early sources (before 1982) or tall according to late sources (after 1986). However, no physical modification of the tower occurred in the interim that would explain a 30-foot increase in height.

Background

It rests on ground above sea level (

NAVD 88 The North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) is the vertical datum for orthometric heights established for vertical control surveying in the United States of America based upon the General Adjustment of the North American Datum of 1988. ...

). As a warning to aircraft, the top of the tower, including antennae, is stated to be above sea level by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

(FAA). Thus, the height of the tower above ground, including antennae, is (392–142=250), which excludes a 270-foot architectural height, allowing only a 240-foot architectural height. Counting the tower's courses yields a height above ground of , so the lowest few feet of the 240-foot height, those resting on the foundation, are underground, providing space for an elevator pit. According to early sources, it has three observation levels, at behind windows, at on an open air balcony, and at in the open air crow's nest, Eagle's Nest, or Birds eye vantage point on top of the elevator shaft but below roof

tracery Tracery is an architecture, architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of Molding (decorative), moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the s ...

. The apex of the tower is a flashing red aircraft warning light. The tower is above sea level according to two late sources, the latter stating that that elevation applies to the eagle's nest, which is consistent with the crow's nest elevation of early sources (142+225=367≈360). The tower offered a panoramic view. Lake Placid commemorative plaque

Earnest Oakley Hunt dreamed of building an observation tower when he moved to

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

in 1938, then moved to Sebring in 1947 and found the perfect location in nearby Lake Placid. He and Robert Gray formed Air View Corporation to build the tower. The tower was designed by architect A. Wynn Howell of Lakeland, built by Ridge Builders of Sebring in 1960 for $350,000 (), and opened . Most sources state that it was the tallest concrete block structure in the world when it opened, with 90,000 concrete blocks, but the magazine ''Florida Architect'' states that it was built of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

. One source states that the tower included 100,000

limestone block Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when th ...

s from

Ocala Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

while another states that it was faced with ceramic tile, implying that the tower has a facade of limestone tile. The tower below the balcony is square, with its four vertical corners replaced by grooves (each per side). The section above the balcony is square, also with corner grooves. Each wall is divided into vertical thirds. The outer thirds are composed of reinforced concrete blocks with a facade of limestone tile. The middle thirds are composed of decorative breeze or fence concrete blocks, which can only support themselves. The tower has a foundation made from of concrete reinforced with of steel. The

atop the tower is made of gold anodized aluminum. Because of low ticket sales, the tower closed in 1982 when the owner would not pay their

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

taxes, but it was re-opened in 1986. The small group of owners still faced sluggish sales, and the tower and its restaurant continued to struggle, despite features such as a

petting zoo A petting zoo (also called a children's zoo, children's farm, or petting farm) features a combination of domesticated animals and some wild species that are docile enough to touch and feed. In addition to independent petting zoos, many general ...

in its plaza, and a

pay phone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...

at the top billed as the "highest pay phone in Florida." The last owner who operated the tower as a tourist attraction was Lake Placid Tower Group owned by Mark Cambell since 1992. He sold it to CHL Tower Group on which operated it as a

cell phone tower A cell site, cell tower, or cellular base station is a cellular-enabled mobile device site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed (typically on a radio mast, tower, or other raised structure) to create a cell, or adjac ...

until 2019. Even though the tower closed about 2003, it still has two red "OPEN" signs at its top, facing north and south. Originally, the tower above the balcony had the same basic design scheme as that below it. But after the tower closed, the portion of the tower from the balcony up was redesigned with a white and

cyan Cyan () is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK color ...

(blue-green) color scheme. The limestone tile of the outer thirds of the walls was covered with white

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

, and the middle thirds were covered with thin cyan-colored panels which blocked the bird's eye view. These panels covered the two opposing triangular openings (top and bottom) in the middle third of each wall and the breeze or fence blocks between them. The roof tracery above and the balcony below them were also painted cyan. The Tower View restaurant at the base of the tower closed in 2015. The tower has been abandoned since 2020. The tower is among 35 designated Lake Placid historic structures. It is one of three towers in Central Florida, including the Citrus Tower, built in 1956, to the north in Clermont, and

Bok Tower BOK Tower (named for the Bank of Oklahoma; formerly known as One Williams Center) is a skyscraper in Downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. At 203 m (667 ft) in height, the 52-story tower was the tallest building in Oklahoma until surpassed by Devo ...

, built in 1929, to the north in

Lake Wales Lake Wales is a city in Polk County, Florida. The population was 14,225 at the 2010 census. , the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 16,759. It is part of the Lakeland– Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lake Wales is ...

. As of June 2022, the tower is home to T-Mobile 5G cellular service and amateur radio communications by the Highlands County Amateur Radio Club W4HCA.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Lake Placid Tower, position=left Towers in Florida Observation towers in the United States Towers completed in 1960 Buildings and structures in Highlands County, Florida 1961 establishments in Florida 2003 disestablishments in Florida