ORLANDO, Fla. – You might call Lake Eola the centerpiece of Central Florida. And it’s hard to imagine the park without its iconic bandshell.
But there was a time when another structure defined the lake.
Even more intriguing, is the architects who designed it.
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In 1924 a “Prairie Style” bandstand was built out in the lake with a short connecting bridge. It was designed by the architect team of Ida Annah Ryan and Isabel Roberts
Several photos and linen postcards depicting the bandstand can be found in the collection at the Orange County Regional History Center.
Pam Schwartz, Executive Director of the Orange County Regional History Center says the bandstand had a much different look than what is there today.
“You know I think sometimes when people walk around Lake Eola they’re so used to seeing the bandshell that’s there, people don’t even consider that there’s something else, and there was,” said Schwartz. “It was a really cool kind of a funky-looking piece of architecture that sat out in the water.”
Ryan and Roberts won a design contest to get the bandstand constructed. They beat out about a dozen other architects for the prize.
“Lake Eola has been sort of an iconic place right at the heart and soul of the community. For them to have had such a visible piece of architecture placed right there was nothing really short of astounding.”
Greg Stock is with the nonprofit, Orlando Foundation For Architecture. Ida Annah Ryan and Isabel Roberts designed homes and businesses here in Central Florida at a time when architecture itself was still a new discipline.
“I was quite surprised when I first saw these,” Stock said as he looked over vintage images of the bandstand. “This was very unusual. There are very few bandstands that are in the water. Usually, they’re in the center of the park.”
Stock says Roberts and Ryan were part of the first generation of women architects.
They settled in Central Florida, taking advantage of what was then a booming new frontier.
“There were only four women who had architecture firms in the United States at the time,” said Stock. “So that was pretty groundbreaking and the fact that they were here shocked me.”
Stock estimates that the bandstand was probably somewhere between where the dock for the swan boats is now and the current bandshell.
“If you look at the photo here, you can see there’s a little bump in the shore to get to the bridge,” Stock said, looking at a photo. “We have an aerial mapping photo from the 50s that shows a little white square which is pretty much next to where the bandstand is now.”
The audience would have watched from the shore. It was removed in the 60s when the current bigger bandshell was built.”
And if the bandstand looks like something Frank Lloyd Wright would design, there’s a reason for that.
Isabel Roberts spent 12 years working for Wright in his Chicago studio.
Ryan had prestigious credentials as well, she was the first woman to earn an architecture masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology.
The pair designed homes in Orlando and Winter Garden but the largest grouping of structures can be found in St. Cloud.
Isabel Roberts mother and sister lived in the area. In 1918 she moved there as well after Frank Lloyd Wright closed his practice in Chicago.”
Among the notable buildings: The People’s Bank Building, The Pennsylvania Hotel Building, Fisk Funeral Home, and the Veterans Memorial Library.
“These women need to be remembered because they were pioneers in the architectural profession,” said Stock.
“I think something that can be learned about Ida Annah Ryan and Isabel Roberts story is that there have been incredible women doing incredible things for a very long time,” Schwartz said. “People who are inspirational, people who are important, and who have had an influence on the fabric of Central Florida today. Even though they were working back then.”
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