Putnam Hotel is an abandoned hotel located at 225 West New York Avenue, in the heart of DeLand, and just a few blocks away from Stetson University, Florida, U.S. Prior to the construction of the Putnam Hotel, the first hotel on this site was built in 1880 by Henry Addison DeLand, the city’s founder. In 1906, Benjamin Edward Brown purchased the hotel and managed the hotel along with his wife. Unfortunately, the original structure burned down when an explosion in the basement set the building on fire in 1921.
Recognized for his architectural experience William J. Carpenter was contacted and commissioned to design and oversee the construction of the new building in late 1922 and new Putnam Hotel was opened in 1923. It was a fireproof hotel and contained 128 hotel rooms and once accommodated wealthy northerners on vacation.
Benjamin Brown and his wife continued to operate the hotel until they passed it down to their son, Robert Horton Brown, and his wife, Sarah Hargreaves Brown. The Hotel has remained in active use as a residential and guest hotel, and supports two night clubs at this time.
Although there have been extensive modifications to the interior of the hotel, the exterior has remained very true to the original Carpenter design. It was bought by Jerry Rocco in 1974, who renovated hotel into 46 apartments which included a separate bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. Jerry Rocco decreased number of hotel rooms just 26.
In 1984 one guest named Stephen Hughes pushed his pregnant girlfriend Elmyra Winfield from a fire escape of Putnam Hotel, killing both Winfield and her unborn child. Later police found him and he was sentenced for 15 years in prison. Ghost hunters believe there is paranormal activity in hotel and they saw two spirits that live in hotel.
In 2000s hotel had financial troubles and Jerry Rocco’s wife, Jayne Rocco, received the building in 2009 after a divorce settlement. She sold the property in June 2013. After that the Putnam Hotel was closed and abandoned. There were plans to renovate the abandoned building into residential apartments, but as of 2022 the Putnam Hotel hotel building was haunted.
