By Travis Puterbaugh from the Fall 2023 edition of Reflections Magazine
In late June 1921, developer J.F. Ange announced plans for a million-dollar, 240-room hotel at the northeast corner of Orange Avenue and Oak Street (now Wall Street).
Orlando’s own Murry S. King, Florida’s first registered architect, designed the elegant hotel, which broke Orlando height records when it opened on March 14, 1923 (Ange sold his interest shortly thereafter). It’s now an office building at 37 N. Orange, just west of the History Center (also a King-designed building).
This undated photo from our collection is identified as the Seminole Room in the Angebilt Hotel. The wildlife painting above the bed appears to be the work of Central Florida artist and entrepreneur Sam Stoltz. Nicknamed the “world’s greatest poultry painter” early in his career, Stoltz moved to the region from the midwest in 1925 at the age of 50. In addition to the Angebilt, his artwork adorned many homes and commercial buildings including the Fidelity Title and Loan Company, Dubsdread Country Club, and Grace Phillips Johnson’s palatial home in College Park.
But the best surviving examples of Stoltz’s work can be seen in the houses he built and decorated in the College Park neighborhood of Orlando and the Mount Plymouth community in Lake County. In addition to his trademark rockwork, used in fireplaces and landscaping elements, Stoltz homes often featured murals, bas relief sculptures, and painted pecky cypress timbers. His subject matter was often local flora and fauna and especially featured birds. Stoltz was quoted as saying, “There is so much local color and material here in Florida, there is no need to go afar for inspiration.”
If you have photos you would like to donate to our collection, please contact Travis at 407-836-8584 or Travis.Puterbaugh@ocfl.net.