The Lake Placid Tower in Lake Placid, Florida, formerly named Placid Tower, Tower of Peace or Happiness Tower, is a closed observation tower tall according to early sources (before 1982) or tall according to late sources (after 1986). However, no physical modification of the tower occurred in the interim that would explain a 30-foot increase in height.
History Earnest Oakley Hunt dreamed of building an observation tower when he moved to Orlando in 1938, then moved to Sebring in 1947 and found the perfect location in nearby Lake Placid. He and Robert Gray formed Air View Corporation to build the tower. The tower was designed by architect A. Wynn Howell of Lakeland, built by Ridge Builders of Sebring in 1960 for $350,000 (), and opened . Most sources state that it was the tallest concrete block structure in the world when it opened, with 90,000 concrete blocks, but the magazine Florida Architect states that it was built of reinforced concrete. One source states that the tower included 100,000 limestone blocks from Ocala while another states that it was faced with ceramic tile, implying that the tower has a facade of limestone tile.
Because of low ticket sales, the tower closed in 1982 when the owner would not pay their Internal Revenue Service taxes, but it was re-opened in 1986. The small group of owners still faced sluggish sales, and the tower and its restaurant continued to struggle, despite features such as a petting zoo in its plaza, and a pay phone at the top billed as the "highest pay phone in Florida." The last owner who operated the tower as a tourist attraction was Lake Placid Tower Group owned by Mark Cambell since 1992. Campbell purchased the tower and property from Barnett Bank for $240,000.00. He sold it to CHL Tower Group on which operated it as a cell phone tower until 2019. Even though the tower closed about 2003, it still has two red "OPEN" signs at its top, facing north and south.
The Tower View restaurant at the base of the tower closed in 2015. The tower has been abandoned since 2020.
As of June 2022, the tower is home to T-Mobile 5G cellular service and amateur radio communications by the Highlands County Amateur Radio Club W4HCA.
By 2025, all telecommunitcations equipment was unistalled. The "OPEN" signs have been removed. The surrounding plaza is in disrepair and is on the market for sale as of July 2026.
Description It rests on ground above sea level (NAVD 88). As a warning to aircraft, the top of the tower, including antennae, is stated to be above sea level by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Thus, the height of the tower above ground, including antennae, is (392–142=250), which excludes a 270-foot architectural height, allowing only a 240-foot architectural height. Counting the tower's courses yields a height above ground of , so the lowest few feet of the 240-foot height, those resting on the foundation, are underground, providing space for an elevator pit.
According to early sources, it has three observation levels, at behind windows, at on an open air balcony, and at in the open air crow's nest, Eagle's Nest, or Bird's eye vantage point on top of the elevator shaft but below roof tracery. The apex of the tower is a flashing red aircraft warning light.
The tower is above sea level according to two late sources, the latter stating that that elevation applies to the eagle's nest, which is consistent with the crow's nest elevation of early sources (142+225=367≈360). The tower offered a panoramic view.
The tower below the balcony is square, with its four vertical corners replaced by grooves (each per side). The section above the balcony is square, also with corner grooves. Each wall is divided into vertical thirds. The outer thirds are composed of reinforced concrete blocks with a facade of limestone tile. The middle thirds are composed of decorative breeze or fence concrete blocks, which can only support themselves. The tower has a foundation made from of concrete reinforced with of steel. The tracery atop the tower is made of gold anodized aluminum.
Originally, the tower above the balcony had the same basic design scheme as that below it. But after the tower closed, the portion of the tower from the balcony up was redesigned with a white and cyan (blue-green) color scheme. The limestone tile of the outer thirds of the walls was covered with white stucco, and the middle thirds were covered with thin cyan-colored panels which blocked the bird's eye view. These panels covered the two opposing triangular openings (top and bottom) in the middle third of each wall and the breeze or fence blocks between them. The roof tracery above and the balcony below them were also painted cyan.
The tower is among 35 designated Lake Placid historic structures. It is one of three towers in Central Florida, including the Citrus Tower, built in 1956, to the north in Clermont, and Bok Tower, built in 1929, to the north in Lake Wales.
References Later editions do not mention the tower 90,000 concrete blocks are more than twice the number needed to build the above ground portion of the tower. The remaining blocks must have been used to build the one story buildings adjacent to the tower and the tower's foundation, with some extra to replace broken blocks. Bok Tower was never intended to be an observation tower.
In some years all of the top wall openings are covered, while in other years only one may be.
. Drone survey of tower.
Breeze or fence blocks have side to side openings, here shaped , long dimension vertical. The most common US concrete block, regular or fence, has modular dimensions, block plus mortar joint, of . Each block is shorter in each dimension to allow for mortar joints.
The tracery is lattice shaped like a cross-gable roof, each roof as wide as the middle third of a wall and a little longer than the width of a wall with a peak angle of 80°. A pyramid of lattice the same height and width is above the junction of the two roofs, with its edges meeting the peaks of the roofs and its sides extending down between them. The aircraft warning light is atop the pyramid's peak. The tower is located at 467 US Highway 27 N between Tower Street and Lake Clay Drive S, where 467 is the , the owner next door.
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The concrete blocks in the corners of the tower as well as those in the walls of the elevator shaft are so tall their vertical holes must be reinforced with grout and rebar. The breeze or fence blocks of the middle third of each wall are decorative.
The tower does not have a traditional flat roof. Instead, the four corners of the tower and the elevator shaft project above the balcony with only a stair and landing on successive sides between them. The corners have small roofs to which the roof tracery is attached. The elevator shaft, square, is topped by a central air conditioning unit and a tall fence made of vertical bars along its edge, both in the open air. The four corners are separated from the elevator shaft by a gap of about , except at stairs and landings. The top of the elevator shaft within its fence was the floor of the Eagle's Nest, with views toward the north, east, south, and west through triangular openings in the top of the middle third of each wall. It was reached by climbing three flights of stairs.
The new cell phone tower for Sprint, AT&T, T-mobile and Verizon is about SSE of the Lake Placid Tower.
The corners probably have two layers (wythes) of concrete blocks, interlocked by cross blocks, required by such a tall structure for rigidity.
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