Historic DownTown Orlando Walking Tour
Last updated on February 28, 2020
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Meet Heather Bonds, the Historic Preservation Officer. Heather helps citizens preserve their historic homes and assists with designations of new local historic landmarks and districts. Her office focuses on promoting the city’s historic preservation efforts through several outreach programs. The Downtown Historic Walking Tour is one of those programs.
On the Downtown Historic Walking Tour, you can experience Orlando’s history firsthand. Below is a Q&A session with Heather about the Downtown Historic Walking Tour.
When was the Downtown Historic District official designated? 1980
What is your favorite part about the Downtown Historic District? I enjoy walking through our streets and knowing that people have been working and living in the downtown area for over 150 years. It’s also wonderful to see the reuse of some of our historic structures with new purposes. Actually, Orlando has been doing that for over 100 years. There are structures that have been moved and re-purposed going back to the 1880s.
What is the oldest building in downtown? There was a fire in 1884 which destroyed many of the old wooden structures downtown. Only one or two structures are thought to pre-date the fire but have been changed throughout the years. These are along Pine Street, which also includes many of our oldest buildings that were the first to be built in 1885-1887 under new building codes that prohibited wooden buildings in the downtown area.
How many buildings does the tour include? There are 8 blocks in the District and we try to cover at least 15-20 different structures.
Can you share any fun facts about the Downtown Historic District? The Downtown Historic District was Orlando’s first local Historic District. It represents Orlando’s commercial history and the first businesses in our city.
To learn more about the tour click here or call 407-246-3789. The tour is also available online or via mobile device here.