The City created a historic preservation board to identify and recommend designation of local historic landmarks and to review construction and alterations within the district following the guidelines for building exteriors, such as site planning, building scale and fa ade design. This era is survived by the oldest structure in Lakeland, the Paulk House, built in the year 1875 at the intersection of New York Avenue and Lime Street. Lakeland s earliest commercial business district was established along Pine Street and North Kentucky Avenue by the time the city was incorporated in 1885. Because of numerous fires, the original wooden structures were replaced by brick or stone block bearing-wall systems on concrete slabs, constructed in continuous blocks sharing sidewall areas and uniformly addressing the street. Floors are pine, interior walls are wood stud frame finished with plaster over furring strips, and ceiling tiles are often made of pressed metal.
Roofs are flat, parapet type, timber framed and decked with asphalt composition over wood boarding.
Outside detailing is limited to functional vernacular style. Munn Park, located in the center of the business section was given to the city of Lakeland by the town s founder, Abraham Godwin Munn, in 1884 and was known as the Town Square or The Park until it was officially named for Munn in April 1908. In 1910, the Lakeland chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected a monument a nameless soldier standing atop a marble column to commemorate the Southern soldiers of the Civil War. It is the oldest commercial, brick building in Lakeland. The Royal Caf , 207-211 North Kentucky Ave. is constructed of rusticated block with brick on the street front.