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  • Key West History
  • Key West Architecture
  • Tour Overviews
    • Tour 1: Mallory, Front and Greene Streets
    • Tour 2: Harborwalk & Caroline Street
    • Tour 3: Fleming Street
    • Tour 4: Southard Street
    • Tour 5: Truman Annex & the Forts
    • Tour 6: Whitehead Street
    • Tour 7: Literary Landmarks
Sunrise: 07:11 AM EST - Sunset: 06:02 PM EST
Key West Architecture
Key West, the last island city at the southern tip of Florida, exhibits a diverse blend of architectural styles. Over 3,000 wood frame structures survive from the nineteenth century and comprise a significant National Register Historic District.
Key West was settled in 1823 by New England natives, Cubans emigres, and fishermen, wreckers and spongers from the Bahamas. The wooden houses remain as the legacy of those early pioneers.

The hand-crafted, wooden Conch Houses comprise no simple, pure style. These antique dwellings mirror a multi-cultural legacy of Bahamian, New England, African, Creole and Victorian influences. Conch architecture was inspired by New England seacoast architecture, Gulf Coast building forms, and Caribbean prototypes—all adapted by the seafaring carpenters who produced skillfully crafted sloops and schooners. Carpenter-architects, using no formal plans, improvised from their ship-building experience to construct the one and two-story homes.

What emerged from the melange of influences was an indigenous building stock, diverse in its roots and adapted to the tropics. From New England came the Greek Revival, or Classic Revival, well proportioned houses with double hung sash windows, columns, pediments and widow’s walks. From the Bahamas came extended, overhanging eaves that covered balconies, and sloping gutters to funnel rainwater through downspouts into concrete holding tanks, known as cisterns. From Abaco and other Bahamian islands came the louvered shutters filtering out the tropical heat, while allowing summer breezes to circulate. From the Gulf Coast towns like New Orleans, via Africa and Haiti, came the shotgun style dwelling. Roof hatches, utilized in ships, were borrowed to facilitate ventilation.

Today former dwellings of Cuban cigarmakers and spongers, clapboarded, narrow and shuttered, stand next to more stately Classic Revival mansions. Historic preservation is in full swing nationally; restoration efforts are visible at many Key West corners. The concentration of historic, antique houses, Old Town's narrow streets, tucked away lanes and deadend alleys, the close knit neighbors and the pedestrian scale all remain largely unchanged.

The island’s built environment—the treasured legacy of shipbuilders, carpenters, cigar workers, spongers and fishermen who once inhabited Key West—is an irreplaceable resource.




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Places to stay:
Historic Key West Inns
Mermaid & Alligator Bed & Breakfast
Tropical Inn
Island City House
The Marquesa Hotel
Heron House
Sunset Key Cottages, a Westin Resort
Amsterdam’s Curry Mansion
The Westin Key West Resort & Marina
Things to do:
The Hemingway Home & Museum
Greg Henke Massage
Sharon Wells Online Gallery
Blue Turtle Gallery
Eaton Street Bikes
Places to eat:
D’vine Wine Gallery
Fausto’s Food Palace
Sarabeth’s
Hyatt-Shor
5 Brothers Sandwich Shop
© Blue Light, LLC 2021


Sharon Wells' Key West Historic Old Town Walking and Biking Guide App for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android Devices






Sharon Wells, an historian and preservationist in Key West since 1976, wrote and published the Key West Walking Guide to Historic Key West as an annual magazine in 1984. Since that time, more than two million issues have been enjoyed by travelers to the Southernmost island. Wells, the state's historian for the Florida Keys for 18 years, gathered the images and stories of the island and its people for many years.

The self-guided tours, neighborhood by neighborhood, with accompanying maps, directions, and photographs, let visitors explore Key West's historic, architectural, cultural and botanical resources at their own pace. All the treks, virtually building by building, led visitors to streets or lanes in the heart of the historic district. Actually, there are three historic districts that welcome people--Old Town, Expanded Key West, and Key West Naval Station. More than 3,000 wood frame structures exist. And nearly every one is distinctive.

The Key West Walking Guide, which became a handbook for visitors, writers, artists and journalists, showcased the traditions, local lore, the fun and the funky, and the island's cultural--artistic and literary--heritage.

Truly the best way to enjoy the historic architecture, to see the wildly lush tropical flora, to meet locals, to enjoy the vistas and parks, to look in all the nooks and crannies and to explore the hidden gems and not so hidden treasures is to Walk, Wander or Ride around our island.

For such a small town, set in an extraordinary waterfront locale, between the Gulf and the Atlantic, Key West offers a remarkable experience.

The Key West Walking Guide has provided the best venue to discover the island for 25 years!




For more information visit us on Facebook or contact us at info@walkbikeguide.com