The PICO Building, also known as the PICO Hotel, is an historic 2-story

redbrick A redbrick university (or red-brick university) normally refers to one of the nine civic universities originally founded as university colleges in the major industrial cities of England in the second half of the 19th century. However, wi ...

building located at 209 North Oak Avenue, corner of West Commercial Street, in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city and the county seat of Seminole County, Florida, United States. It is located in Central Florida and its population was 61,051 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical ...

. Built during 1886–1887 for Henry B. Plant of Plant Investment Co. (PICO) to serve travelers arriving in Sanford on his

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

and

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

lines, it was designed by local architect William T. Cotter in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

and

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticism, Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mi ...

styles of architecture and built by the H. M. Papworth Construction Company. In 1906, the building was remodeled and sold to the Takach family, who had operated the restaurant for Plant by Bertha E. Takach and family, Hungarian immigrants. According to the ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

'' on April 22, 1973, "Mrs. Takch, the owner (of an adjacent restaurant), had such good food... she got all the customers. So, in 1889, Mr. Plant, whose dining room was losing out, made a deal with Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Takach to take over their Pico Hotel." In fact, "they DID, in 1891...from that time, many called the Pico Hotel the Takach Hotel. It had gas lights, white table cloths, and the people who ate there were well dressed, as train travelers always were in that era."

"Their restaurant continued in the building for about 50 years. The building's original
onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate (drum) upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. They taper smoothly upwards to a point. It is a typical ...
was destroyed in a 1950s storm. The building then went on to become an office building used primarily for law offices.Loopnet, The PICO Building (Henry Plant Investment Company)
accessed May 4, 2013

In 1989, it was listed in ''A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture'' prepared by the Florida Association of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

and published by the

University of Florida Press A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

.''A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture'', 1989, Gainesville: University of Florida Press, p. 89, The building is a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the Sanford Commercial District, which was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on June 15, 1976.

References

Hotel buildings completed in 1887 Historic district contributing properties in Florida Sanford, Florida Romanesque Revival architecture in Florida Moorish Revival architecture in Florida National Register of Historic Places in Seminole County, Florida 1887 establishments in Florida {{Florida-struct-stub