Central Florida’s Polk County is rich in heritage, nature, and artistry.
By Dave Nershi, CSW
Despite covering more than 2,000 square miles – bigger than the entire state of Delaware – Florida’s Polk County is often overlooked by tourists hurrying from Tampa to Orlando. Guests to the Sunshine State would be best advised to slow down, hit the brakes, and enjoy the abundance of attractions, natural wonders, and hospitality available in this county named after U.S. president James K. Polk.
During our recent visit, we explored architectural treasures that might remain parts of a hidden landscape to travelers who don’t pause to enjoy them. Titans of the field, including Fredrick Law Olmsted Jr. and Frank Lloyd Wright, left their marks on Polk County, which has a history that stretches back more than 11,000 years.
Bok Tower Gardens and El RetiroLocated in Lake Wales, Bok Tower stands 205 feet tall atop Iron Mountain, one of Florida's highest points. It is known as the Singing Tower for its 20-story carillon bell tower, which chimes a melodic concert twice daily.
Built by Edward W. Bok, longtime editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, in the 1920s, the tower is surrounded by a 250-acre contemplative garden and bird sanctuary. While we visited, the Dream Weaver: Tales from the Trees exhibit was on display in the garden.
What is a Carillon
A carillon is an exceptional musical instrument. “It’s as if an organ and drum had a baby,” explains Erica Smith, director of marketing for Bok Tower Gardens. A carillon is a musical instrument made of tuned bronze bells, played from a keyboard-like console. To earn the title of carillon, the instrument must have at least 23 bells. The Bok Tower carillon has 60, among the finest in the world.
The console is played by a carillonneur, who performs inside the tower. The current carillonneur is Geert D’hollander, a world‑renowned Belgian composer and performer. He performs a live concert at 1:00 and 3:00 PM Thursday through Sunday from mid-October to mid-May. Short musical selections are played on the hour and half-hour.
The carillonneur plays the console by striking wooden keys with his closed fists and uses his feet to play pedals, which produce the lower tones. The instrument is part of the architecture, and the sound radiates beautifully across the entire landscape.
The tower features Gothic/Art Deco styles and striking stonework by master craftsmen from the Philadelphia area. Its colorful walls are adorned with pink and grey Georgia marble and coquina stone (a native shell limestone).
The Great Brass Door, located on the tower’s north side, is a masterpiece by Samuel Yellin, America’s preeminent metalworker of the era. The door panels depict scenes from the Book of Genesis, including the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, and the serpent.
The stonework features a menagerie of Florida wildlife, including storks, herons, swans, foxes, and even baboons. It is part of the theme of unity between nature, art, and spirituality.
Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.’s Legacy
Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., landscape architect for Bok Gardens, was the son of Frederick Law Olmsted, who co-designed Central Park and the U.S. Capitol Grounds. The son’s legacy is also long-lasting: in addition to designing Bok Tower Gardens, he founded the American Society of Landscape Architects and helped establish the National Park Service.
The garden is contemplative and peaceful. Curving paths wind through Longleaf pines, Sandhill vegetation, and native shrubs and wildflowers. As you walk on the rising pathway, the tower emerges, framed by trees, with its image captured in a reflecting pool.
El Retiro is a 20-room Mediterranean-style mansion that sits on 7.5 acres within Bok Gardens. It was built in the 1930s for steel executive Charles Austin Buck, and he engaged Olmsted’s firm to design the gardens for his winter home. Architect Charles Wait was hired to design the house.
El Retiro means “the retreat” in Spanish. The 12,900-foot home is considered one of the finest examples of Mediterranean-style architecture in Florida. It features a barrel-tile roof, thick walls, substantial carved doors and woodwork, and intricately detailed wrought iron.
Three porches afforded Buck and his guests uninterrupted views of his English-style country garden, rolling lawn, and tower. There is a formal Mediterranean-style garden with a Spanish frog fountain, and elsewhere a pond to reflect the afternoon sunsets.
Bok Tower Gardens is open daily with general admission ($20 for adults, $10 children 6-17) that grants access to the historic landscape, the Singing Tower, and the visitor areas. Guests who want to explore the 1930s Mediterranean‑style mansion El Retiro can add a docent‑led tour for an additional fee ($10 adults, $5 children).
Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture at Florida Southern CollegeLakeland is home to the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work found at a single site. Thirteen structures designed by Wright are on the Florida Southern College campus.
The campus features a Usonian home designed in 1939 and then later built according to Wright’s plans in 2011. Wright coined the term Usonian to describe architecture modest in size, harmonized with its surroundings, and affordable for the average American.
The house at FSC has all the Wright hallmarks; it is low-slung with built-in furniture to reduce clutter. It features a carport, clerestory windows, recessed lighting, and strong horizontal lines. The kitchen is open concept, but quite small compared to contemporary kitchens. Wright believed a kitchen was merely a workplace, and he devoted more space to the living areas and master bedroom. The materials are brick, cypress, and interlocking textile blocks.
Child of the Sun Campus
The campus is often called the “Child of the Sun,” and it has 13 Wright-designed buildings. He designed the layout around the orange trees currently growing there.
The largest water feature he designed is the Water Dome, which measures 168 feet in diameter. It features a full circular spray pattern that creates a 30-foot wide hemisphere that appears almost solid. The original technology to achieve this effect didn’t exist in the 1940s; the fountain remained incomplete for decades. Today, the fountain reflects the geometry and scale originally envisioned by Wright.
Annie Pfeiffer Chapel
The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel was the first Wright building on campus, with groundbreaking in 1938 and completion in 1941. It is the physical and spiritual center of the campus. It also encompasses most of Wright’s mid-career experimentation with light, geometry, and hand-made materials.
Much of the work was done by students in exchange for tuition and board. Textile blocks are used extensively in construction, and many of the blocks have perforations with colored glass inserts. Wright instructed students to randomly insert different colors, resulting in an abstract, stained-glass effect.
The floor is painted in Wright’s hallmark Cherokee red concrete. A lantern tower soars above the sanctuary, and the two levels of the church can seat up to 1,000 people.
E.T. Roux Library
Wright’s original plan called for a circular library. The E.T. Roux Library was designed as a hub for campus intellectual life and reflected Wright’s fascination with geometric purity. It featured a central reading room and radiating study alcoves.
By the mid-60s, the college had outgrown the library. A new library, incorporating many of the elements of the original building, was designed by Nils Schweizer, a protégé of Wright. On the day it opened, March 24, 1968, students formed a human chain to pass books hand-to-hand from the old library to the new.
The Child of the Sun campus is unified by almost a mile of covered walkways connecting buildings. These esplanades are designed to mimic orange grove rows.
Florida Southern College offers daily guided tours of its world‑renowned collection of Frank Lloyd Wright structures, including the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, the Usonian House, and several academic buildings. Visitors can choose from a basic campus tour at $15 or the more extensive In‑Depth Tour, which lasts about 2.5 hours and includes interior access to six Wright‑designed buildings, at $50. Reservations are strongly recommended.
From the soaring Singing Tower at Bok Tower Gardens to the shimmering arc of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Water Dome at Florida Southern College, Polk County invites visitors into a landscape where art, architecture, and nature speak in harmony. These are places shaped by visionaries—Edward Bok, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., and Wright himself.
Together, Bok Tower Gardens, the historic El Retiro estate, and the nation’s largest single collection of Wright architecture offer a rare chance to stroll through nationally significant sites within just a few miles of one another. It’s a journey blending quiet reflection, bold design, and the enduring beauty of Central Florida.
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