The buildings here have been replaced, razed, or otherwise destroyed.  It’s important to remember that development can always occur, but once a structure is torn down it is lost forever.

Featured on our home page: the Soreno Hotel (center)

Soreno Hotel

Featured as the "Lost" building on our home page, the Soreno Hotel occupied the north half of the 100 block of Beach Drive.  Featuring a clay tiled roof, rough textured stucco, Baroque arched entrance, and sqraffito decorations, it was the second of the 11 grand hotels built between 1923 and 1926.  It was advertised as the city’s first “million dollar hotel” and greatly enhanced St Petersburg’s reputation as a winter tourist destination. 
 
Built by Mr. and Mrs. Soren Lund of Denmark, it was a Mediterranean Revival style hotel named for Lund's only son.  Noted region architect Geoffrey Lloyd Preacher designed the Hotel, with construction beginning in 1923 and ending in 1924.  In 1029 a seventh floor was added, bringing the total number of rooms to 300.
 
The Soreno’s presence brought new elegance to St. Petersburg’s downtown waterfront, and when it was finished the majority of its rooms were already leased by tourists eager to spend that year's season at the hotel.
 
Lund's lifelong experience and reputation in the hotel industry kept the hotel full throughout his ownership.  During World War II it served as housing for servicemen, and after that as a winter season hotel until its closing in 1984.
 
In 1992 the Soreno was demolished for the motion picture Lethal Weapon 3 starring Mel Gibson; it is the building seen blowing up after the closing credits – perhaps a degrading end to a structure that contributed so much to the growth of St. Petersburg.