A little New England in Florida: Winter Park

[bdurden]

Winter Park is easily the most beautiful small town I've seen in Florida -- I rank it above Coral Gables. Located about 5 miles North of downtown Orlando, its a wealthy enclave famous for its uber-picturesque main street.

According to Wiki:

Winter Park was founded as a resort destination by wealthy New England industrialists before the turn of the 20th century. It is recognized as the first centrally planned community in Florida; its main street includes not only public civic buildings and retail, but also art galleries, a private liberal arts college, museums, a park, a train station, a golf course country club, a historic cemetery, and a beach and boat launch. Winter Park is celebrated for a sense of place and history, uncommon to many parts of Central Florida. Many structures are more than 100 years old. The scenic Olde Winter Park area is punctuated by small, winding brick streets, and a canopy of old Southern Live Oak and Camphor trees, draped with Spanish Moss. The city draws thousands of visitors to annual festivals including the Bach Festival, the nationally ranked Sidewalk Art Festival, and the Winter Park Concours d'Elegance.

Winter Park is home to Rollins College.

And these last few are of Rollins College:

 

[Patrick]

This is a fantastic photo tour. Unfortunately, places like this are rare even in New England these days. How old is this neighborhood (sorry if you already mentioned it)? Judging from the trees, it is not new, but was it designed this way on purpose for a new urbanist reason, or is it a town that developed naturally this way for industrial purposes (like in New England)? The trees are great...sort of remind me of pictures of Greeneville. And speaking of the trees, they are the most remarkable feature of the town. They really tie the place together with a sense of cohesiveness and picturesque framing quality for the streetscape. I also enjoy the landscaping around the trees. Why can't all towns employ urban design specialists? My town got rid of the position a few years ago because of budget cuts. I am currently writing this in Dallas, TX where the downtown is a drop in the bucket compared to the surrounding sprawl.

 

[Lrfox]

Dallas is rough from an urban standpoint, but not devoid of it. Downtown shocked me at just how dead it was after business hours and on weekends. If you're in Downtown, check out the West End Historic District. Not so bad. A lot of cool older brick buildings. If you have a car (I don't know how to do it via transit there) head over to the Oak Cliff neighborhood (a nice, walkable neighborhood center) and get a drink and some pizza at Eno's. Also, downtown Plano is pretty cool. We ate at a nice German restaurant there with a beer garden out back. West Village in Uptown is newer, but walkable. In fact, a lot of Uptown is walkable. Go out drinking on Mckinney Avenue. There are a few other neighborhoods out there that are nice too. Still, you're right, Dallas has a LOT of sprawl going on.

Winter Park looks great. I'd really love to see what's inside that little "Court" so carefully placed in between those two buildings. From the pictures, it seems like there's more to it than a typical small town in New England.

 

[bdurden]

My "a little New England in Florida" comment was just tongue-n-cheek. True, Winter Park was settled in the late 19th Century by New England snowbirds, and has a level of urbanity unusual to Florida small cities, but it is still distinctly Floridian, especially that mix of cracker house bungalow style and Spanish revival. Winter Park is hardly small town, it is 5 miles north of downtown Orlando, it has just done a great job at maintaining it's exclusivity while benefiting from being part of a larger metro area.

Mount Dora, FL, above a half hour North of Orlando, is a somewhat secluded pocket of urbanity that prides itself on being oh so New England (though its still quite Southern). Google Map N Donnelly and 5th Ave to explore it more if interested.