ORLANDO, Fla. – When walking around the Downtown Arts District, you may notice some familiar gates with a new look.
On Thursday evening, Orlando city leaders kicked off the groundbreaking of the new courtyard next to the historic Rogers Kiene Building, which is now known as CityArts Orlando.
Recommended Videos
The gates were renovated, repurposed and reconstructed from the demolished Ballroom at Church Street. The popular wedding and event venue closed down for good in 2019 for redevelopment.
Now those same gates are used at the entrance of a new courtyard but this time, they’re honoring Orlando businessman and philanthropist, Ford Kiene.
At the top if the gates, you can see the phrase, “Surprise and Delight.”
According to the plaque also on the gate, it’s a phrase he coined and would use the expression when donating to an organization or uplifting someone.
He said he came up with it because a surprise can be good or bad but when combined with the word “delight,” that means you have the best intentions.
The Rogers-Kiene building sits at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Pine Street. It was originally completed in 1887 by Gordon Rogers, an Englishman who came to Orlando in 1886. His goal was to have a social gathering place for the English immigrants who came to Orlando in the 1880s to become citrus growers and ranchers. Unforunately, the gathering spot didn’t last long. Many of the English immigrants lost their crops during the Great Freeze of 1894, and left the area.
Throughout the next 100 years, the building had several different owners and served different purposes until the 1990s when Kiene purchased the building and restored it. In 2018, he donated the building to the city, with the stipulation that it be used for arts and culture for the next 20 years. He later died in 2022 at the age of 72.
Now the building is the home of CityArts, and they’re working to renovate the courtyard that also bears his name, it’s called “Fordify the Arts.”
Kiene’s friend and Downtown Arts District Board Member, Paul Skomsky, is spearheading the project.
Once complete, the courtyard space will have seating and wall murals. It will be open to the public during CityArts hours and it will be able to be rented for private events.
During Thursday’s unveiling, leaders thanked the organizations who helped with the project, including Interstruct Design + Build CEO Ryan Young, who donated his time to design the space, and Mojo Metal Works owner, Matt Mahe. He designed the gates that carry that message from Kiene, honoring his legacy in Central Florida.
Like the plaque says, his friends believe, “he would be ‘surprised’ by the magnitude of his impact, and ‘delighted’ to know that it still lives on.”
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: