By Travis Puterbaugh From the Spring 2024 Edition of Reflections Magazine
In 1985, Lee Pharr, the art director for Church Street Station, said, “We’re trying to create an ambiance here that’s almost nostalgic fantasy.”
The downtown Orlando entertainment complex – which opened on July 19, 1974, and helped transform downtown Orlando’s reputation as a daytime and business-only destination – evoked a strong sense of nostalgia with its varied 1880s-1920s themed restaurants and bars set along a quaint downtown block featuring cobblestone and gas lamps.
One of the many Church Street Station venues where one could hear live music, Apple Annie’s played host to an array of bluegrass and folk music performances, including the well-regarded house band Mother’s Choice. Located in the old Leon Building next to Rosie O’Grady’s Goodtime Emporium, Apple Annie’s opened as part of the second phase of Church Street Station’s development in July 1976.
The interior of Apple Annie’s – think grand Victorian garden – featured 12-foot, 18th-century hand-carved mirrors from Austria, four brass chandeliers (each 1,000 pounds) salvaged from an Episcopal church in Buffalo, and arched pine and cypress trusses salvaged from Annunciation Catholic Church in New Orleans. The front bar incorporated an 18th-century communion rail from a Catholic church in France. Surrounded by 20 varieties of tropical plants, guests in Apple Annie’s sat in wicker peacock chairs and reconstructed church pews at English-style pub tables.
The ambiance was often described as “gentility at its finest,” and Church Street Station founder Bob Snow spared no expense in providing the finest in furnishings from around the world, boasting that there were no reproductions in Apple Annie’s. The atmosphere, décor, and vibe of Apple Annie’s is one that has yet to – and may never be – replicated in downtown Orlando.