Florence Hotel

Florence Hotel. 103—111 S. Pikes Peak. , The Florence Hotel was constructed in two separate sections. The south section faces Pikes Peak Avenue, and was built in 1890, while the north section that faces Main Street was built in 1891. The south section was built as the Florence Hotel, and then they continued to build the north section to add on to the hotel. It was named as one of the best hotels of the time, featuring 40 guest rooms, and was still inexpensive with rooms from $1.50 to $2.00 a night., The Bank of Florence which was started by James McCandless and his partner Henry Topping moved into the lower corner of the hotel in 1891 and moved to 101 West Main in 1897. The upper floor continued as a hotel into the mid 1930's. The lower floor continued to hold many different businesses until the late 1980's including liquor stores, barber shops and real estate offices., In 1998 the building was in disrepair and there was talk of demolishing it. A group of people (Larry Lasha, Leon Lasha, Bob Weller and Nancy and Lewis Schwartz) bought the run-down building and named it the Ugly Green Building, or the U.G.B. , They remodeled it over the next four years, removing 42 loads of trash and structurally reinforcing the building., In 2006, Canon National Bank, Accent on Life Counseling and Verizon Wireless occupied the north building and Louie's Place occupied the south section. Canon National Bank moved to a larger building in 2006, however, the Loan Processing and Bookkeeping Departments remain in this building which the bank still owns.