DELAND, Fla. — A 100-year-old historic building in Downtown DeLand will soon be history. A contractor began demolition on the Putnam Hotel Monday Feb. 13. The city said the building was too unstable to restore.

What You Need To Know

  • The City of DeLand and Axia Putnam LCC started demolishing the Putnam Hotel Monday morning.

  • Many residents have mixed emotions on the historic staple going down.

  • Lifelong DeLand resident, Taylor Bass, knows how unsafe the structure is and is happy to see it being turned into something new.

  • The contractor will try to salvage the bricks from the building to use in its future project.

Something is always cooking in Downtown DeLand. Native to Deland, Taylor Bass worked her way up in the restaurant industry. Starting as a cook, she now owns The Bake Chop in Downtown DeLand.

“Put good food out, put love into our food, it makes a full circle. We get it back from the customers and the community. It’s a really cool special place,” said Bass.

The recent talk around town is the dismantling of the Putnam Hotel. A historic staple near Bass’s restaurant.

“The negative, we’re losing a big part of DeLand history. A lot of good memories, a lot of people traveling through. It was the hot part of town. And then there’s the bad where it’s unsafe,” said Bass.

Back in 2018, the Putnam Hotel caught on fire. Bass’s husband was one of the firefighters who put out the fire. After that incident and a handful of hurricanes, the City of DeLand and the developers, Axia Putnam LLC, looked into the structure’s safety.

“If you look at the east wing, it’s in danger of just collapsing, so we wanted to expedite that process as quickly as possible,” said Chris Graham, City of DeLand.

While the decision has residents feeling mixed emotions, for Bass, it’s clear.

“At the end of the day, it’s not safe,” said Bass.

Bass hopes the developers pay homage to the Putnam Hotel, while also building a new history in the downtown area.

“We’re always pushing for more living downtown to make the commute smaller and help with that culture of downtown living and thriving here,” said Bass.

Now that the Putnam Hotel no longer stands. The question of what it’ll be turned into stays. The contractor will try to salvage the bricks from the building to use in future projects.