THE VINOY HOTEL

St. Petersberg, FL

The Vinoy Hotels history is like many others of the grand Floridian hotels B developed by the wealthy, prospered, languished, sold, renovated, prospered - repeat cycle. It was built in 1925 by Aymer Vinoy Laughner, taking 10 months to complete. The architect was Henry Taylor, who designed a number of the 1920=s boom-era hotels. The cost of construction was $3.5 million B at the time, the largest construction project in Florida history. The Vinoy, designed in the Mediterranean revival style, was the most luxurious of St. Petersburg=s hotels. It was a seasonal hotel, open from December to March. Rates were $20.00 a night, the highest in the area at that time. Celebrities ranging from Babe Ruth to Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and James Stewart are known to have stayed there.

During World War II, the hotel was taken over by the U.S. Army and used as a training school. After the war, the hotel was sold to Charles Alberding for $700,000. The hotel continued to prosper for the next couple of decades, but fell out of favor and into decline and disrepair again by the end of the 1960’s. In 1974, the Vinoy closed and most of its contents were sold at auction. The hotel sat vacant until the early 1990s, when it was bought by a partnership between Renaissance Hotels & Resorts and the Vinoy Development Corporation. A $93 million renovation was undertaken, and in two years the Vinoy was reopened.

In recent years, the Vinoy has been the location of one of the more popular ballroom dance competitions. This sketch was done during a break from the 2015 Superstar competition.