American National Bank Building, bank building in Sarasota, Florida, United States
The American National Bank Building at 1330 Main Street in Sarasota is a Neoclassical bank building whose foundations were laid in March 1926 and which stood four stories tall by April 1926. It was later converted into the Orange Blossom Hotel, described in city directories as a fireproof steel-and-concrete building with steam heat, two elevators and 125 rooms.
The American National Bank Building rose on the site of the Belle Haven Hotel, earlier the DeSoto Hotel, which was sold in May 1925 for $533,000. Foundations were laid in March 1926 and the bank moved in that April. In 1936 Joseph Spadaro converted it into the Orange Blossom Hotel; in 1967 a Sarasota non-profit bought it for a 60-room nursing home, and it closed in the 1980s.
The building's later name, the Orange Blossom Hotel, was adopted in 1946 when the Orange Blossom Hotel Corporation was formed, with Lewis Swed, Jack Shapiro and M. B. Sullivan as executives. Guests of that era included Jimmy Roosevelt and Peter Lawford. The hotel's Aztec Room cocktail lounge drew both tourists and local residents.
The building is located on Main Street in downtown Sarasota and is easily accessible on foot. Visitors can view the facade and classical details from the street, though access to interior spaces may be limited depending on current occupancy and use.
The building opened in April 1926 as the American National Bank, on the site of the former Belle Haven Hotel, also called the DeSoto Hotel. In 1936 Joseph Spadaro of Boca Grande bought it and turned it into the Orange Blossom Hotel, which had 125 rooms, two elevators and an Aztec Room cocktail lounge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
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