Mountain Lake Estates Historic District
The Mountain Lake Estates Historic District is a U.S. historic district, located north of Lake Wales, Florida, off the US 27A Scenic Highway.
Mountain Lake Estates was first developed in the 1920s as an exclusive residential area created "to attract the nation's business elite". The developers hired Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to design the community. Such wealthy and widely known people as Edward W. Bok, August Heckscher, and Irving T. Bush subsequently became early "snowbirds" and established winter homes in or near Mountain Lake Estates.
The district contains 65 historic buildings, including two previously listed on the National Register: El Retiro Estate and Mountain Lake Colony House. Noted architect Wallace Neff, known for his celebrity clients' mansions in southern California, designed one home within Mountain Lakes Estates, one of his few commissions outside California.
Mission Revival, Colonial Revival, and other "revival" styles of architecture are most common. House lots within the historic district can be sizable; as an example, Irving T. Bush's estate covered five acres.
