Crown Court, 109 N Seminole Avenue, City of Inverness, Citrus County, Florida, USA / Built: 1926 / Floors: 4 / Elevators: 1 / Units: 40 / Fireplaces: 3 / Concrete Swimming Pool: 1 / Area: 25,004 Square feet

INVERNESS — Today it’s an assisted living facility, but at one time it was the “crown jewel” of the city of Inverness, the stately, regal Crown Hotel.

However, prior to that it was Francis Dampier’s general store on Line Street, which he opened in 1890.

In 1907, the building was moved to Main Street and an added second floor became the Orange Hotel. It was moved again in 1926 to Seminole Avenue where it became the Hotel Inverness — and then reverted back to the Orange Hotel.

After a series of owners and name changes and a multi-million-dollar facelift, the hotel reopened as the landmark Crown Hotel in 1980 where it played host to visitors and locals alike who wanted to impress and be impressed.

It was where witnesses in trials at the courthouse stayed and where lawyers, businesspeople and Red Hat ladies lunched. It was the premiere location for a wedding, with a bride descending the broad spiral staircase, surrounded by elegant antique furniture and rich decorations.

It was where a young boy, Larry LaFond, now 40 and a director and casting director in Los Angeles, developed his continuing passion for this century-old structure.

“I grew up in Inverness and worked at the Crown when I turned 16,” LaFond said. “My favorite memories mostly involve the people I worked with, and at that time, the hotel was really something different. Service was all about presentation and working there required discipline. Being part of it was like being part of an elite club.”

LaFond created an all-things-Crown-Hotel website, www.thecrownhotel.net, about four years ago, filled with historical data and old pictures. He started with a few postcards of the hotel he found on eBay and posted them online.

“More photos demanded more research, more fact finding, more visits to Inverness and the Citrus County Historical Society,” he said.

It grew from there, with other people adding their own photos and information.

“I don’t really know why the hotel and its history are so interesting to me,” LaFond said. “Call it a hobby that has evolved into a passion. Every time I find a new photo of the hotel, every time I hear the story of someone with an historical connection to the hotel, every time I’m able to bridge a gap in the hotel’s history, I get excited.

“On some level, I feel a sense of responsibility,” he said. “If I don’t do the work, who will? And working at the Crown made me feel as though one day, owning a small boutique hotel of my own might be something I’d like to do in life.”

Joyce Rogers, Inverness mayor from 1995-2004, said she has great memories of the Crown Hotel.

“It was ‘the’ place to go for anniversaries or any special occasion; it was the prettiest, classiest place in town,” she said. “We were so proud as city officials to have it as a place to bring out-of-town guests.”

After a series of owners, Cary and Brenda Jensen purchased the hotel in 2004 for $900,000 and turned it into Crown Court Assisted Living Facility.

The Jensens were unavailable for comment, but in June 2004 Cary Jensen told the Chronicle that he loved the hotel and saw its potential, despite it having gone through a time of mismanagement in the late 1990s.

However, with $60-a-night rooms going empty through the summer, he didn’t believe that the 27,000-square-foot building could turn a profit.

Instead, because of its location near the hospital, restaurants and shopping centers, he decided to fill the 34-room hotel year-round with elderly people who are not quite ready for nursing homes.

“It was the only way I could see that it would work,” he said.

LaFond said, “As much as we all love the hotel for what it was, be it the Orange Hotel, the Colonial Hotel or the Crown Hotel, a hotel is first and foremost a business. And if the building can’t survive as a hotel, it must transform, or the building will go empty. ... What’s great about that hotel, time and time again we’ve seen it go through stages, through highs and lows. So, it’s true — it’s not what it was, but what it is now it will not be forever. And more likely, it will outlive us all.”

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
www.seniorly.com/assisted-living/florida/inverness/crown-...
www.citruspa.org/_web/datalets/datalet.aspx?mode=commerci...
www.chronicleonline.com/news/local/inverness-crown-jewel-...

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Taken in: United States / Florida / Inverness (show map)

Taken on: April 30, 2024

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Crown Court

109 N Seminole Avenue

Citrus County

Florida

USA

Built: 1926

Floors: 3

Elevators: 1

Units: 40

Fireplaces: 3

Area: 25

004 Square feet

Sunshine State

west central Florida

old Florida

historic landmark

old builiding

historic Florida

architecture

downtown

commercial property

real estate

urban

street photography

central business district

assisted living facility

Crown Hotel

Francis Dampier’s general store

Hotel Inverness

Orange Hotel

Larry LaFond

Citrus County Historical Society

Cary and Brenda Jensen

34-room hotel

wood structure

concrete swimming pool

crown jewel of the city of Inverness

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Sets appears in: • City of Inverness, Citrus County, Florida, USA • Urban Florida VI

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