Lake Mirror Art

Historic Downtown Lakeland typifies the city’s leisure sensibility and love of arts & culture. Many have said that few cities of comparable size match Lakeland’s appreciation of cultural events ranging from year-round art exhibitions, concerts, plays, dance, and other culturally significant activities. Lakeland's love affair with the arts may be on display at the Polk Museum, but it resonates thru the entire city. Nowhere is there such a concentrated collection of sculptures as Lake Mirror.

Lake Mirror & its Promenade are considered the crown jewel of historic Downtown Lakeland. This community recreation area was the vision of Tom Appleyard, the manager of the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce in the early 1920s. Charles W. Leavitt, the noted New York landscape architect, eventually brought Appleyard's vision to reality. Its hallmark seawall, ornate loggias, and the wide palm-lined pedestrian pathways make this lake visually stunning and architecturally distinct.

The Promenade, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983, has often been the hub of local festivities of Downtown. Lake Mirror is surrounded by Kryger Overlook Park, Barnett Family Park, Magnolia Building, Lake Mirror Tower, Hollis Gardens, & the Lake Mirror Complex. Lake Mirror Park and amphitheater were dedicated in the fall of 1999 and Hollis Garden opened in 2000 on the southeast shore. Albert Paley's “Tribute to Volunteerism,” a conspicuously ornate & colorful sculpture, crowns the northeast shore.