The Hotel That Was Built for Babe Ruth Turns 100
On the Centennial of the Jungle Country Club Hotel by Steve Elftmann
The Jungle Country Club Hotel on Park St and 5th Ave N is now Admiral Farragut Academy.
Part I: The Attraction, the Ambassador and the Architect
The Opening
On February 10, 1926, the Jungle Country Club Hotel opened its doors at Park Street and 5th Avenue North. Today, the Spanish Mediterranean landmark is known as Farragut Hall, the residence for Admiral Farragut Academy cadets. The building might not have existed if it weren't for the convergence of three heavyweights of St. Pete history: legendary Babe Ruth, city booster Al Lang, and visionary developer Walter P. Fuller.
The hotel was an important part of Al Lang’s strategy to bring the world’s most famous athlete to the city's west side. As president of the Jungle Country Club, Lang teamed up with developer Walter P. Fuller to build a luxury hotel tailored specifically to Babe Ruth’s passion for golf. By placing the hotel on the first tee of the Jungle course, Lang and Fuller turned the resort into Babe’s pre-training camp headquarters.
Babe Ruth, Al Lang, Walter P. Fuller
Al Lang
Al Lang was a key ally of H. Walter Fuller and his son Walter P. Fuller, the developers who reshaped the western edge of St. Petersburg. In 1914, H. Walter Fuller gifted some prime land on Park Street to Lang and asked him to be president of the new country club. The lot overlooked Boca Ciega Bay to the west and the future golf course property to the east.
When the Jungle golf course opened in 1916, it was Al Lang who hit the inaugural ball off the first tee. Walter P. Fuller writes "except for a brief hiatus following the boom, Lang was the genial and tireless glad-hand president of the Jungle Club for some 15 years. Most of that time he lived across the street from the Jungle Club [now Admiral Farragut Academy], usually greeted the first and the last players to tee off for the day and was loud, cheerful and friendly around the locker room all day."
Al Lang’s craftsman bungalow on Park Street, near the golf course. It was demolished in 1931 when Casa Coe da Sol was built.
Lang began bringing major league teams to St. Petersburg in 1914. He understood that professional baseball offered more than sport. It brought visitors during the winter months, filled hotels, and put the city’s name in newspapers far beyond Florida. Spring training was publicity.
After World War I disrupted professional sports, St. Petersburg went several years without a major league presence. Lang persisted and in 1922 he secured the Boston Braves for spring training. The Braves were respectable, but Lang was not looking for any team. He wanted a New York team, one that could deliver national attention.
For several years, Lang courted the New York Giants, then regarded as baseball’s premier franchise. But the game was changing, and so was the nature of celebrity. By the early 1920s, one player had grown larger than the sport itself.
Babe Ruth
Ruth transformed spring training from a routine preseason exercise into a spectacle. Fans traveled to see him. Reporters followed him. His presence alone guaranteed headlines. Lang knew what this meant for St. Petersburg. If the city could attract Ruth, it would attract tourists, photographers, and national attention.
On July 17, 1924, it was announced that Lang had signed a contract with the New York Yankees to train in St. Petersburg, The mood of the city shifted almost overnight. What followed was a surge of optimism that local historian Will Michaels later described as “Ruthmania.” The excitement was not about the Yankees as a team. Without Ruth, they would have drawn little more attention than the Braves. The fascination centered on one man: Babe Ruth.
Walter P. Fuller
At the same time, Florida’s land boom was gathering momentum and speculation was accelerating statewide. On the city’s west side, Fuller owned vast tracts of land in and around an area known as the Jungle. Much of it was valuable on paper but difficult to monetize, leaving him exposed to mounting tax pressures.
That situation changed when investor “Handsome Jack” Taylor arrived from New York and purchased a large swath of Fuller’s west side land for an ambitious land boom project, Pasadena-on-the-Gulf. Fuller suddenly had the capital needed to promote and expand his Jungle enterprises.
In 1924, the Jungle Country Club undertook a major renovation of its clubhouse. With Babe Ruth, famous for his love of golf, now arriving in St. Petersburg each spring, the Jungle was positioned to become more than a local course. It had the potential to serve on the national stage.
Part I: The Attraction, the Ambassador and the Architect
The Opening
On February 10, 1926, the Jungle Country Club Hotel opened its doors at Park Street and 5th Avenue North. Today, the Spanish Mediterranean landmark is known as Farragut Hall, the residence for Admiral Farragut Academy cadets. The building might not have existed if it weren't for the convergence of three heavyweights of St. Pete history: legendary Babe Ruth, city booster Al Lang, and visionary developer Walter P. Fuller.
The hotel was an important part of Al Lang’s strategy to bring the world’s most famous athlete to the city's west side. As president of the Jungle Country Club, Lang teamed up with developer Walter P. Fuller to build a luxury hotel tailored specifically to Babe Ruth’s passion for golf. By placing the hotel on the first tee of the Jungle course, Lang and Fuller turned the resort into Babe’s pre-training camp headquarters.
Babe Ruth, Al Lang, Walter P. FullerAl Lang
Al Lang was a key ally of H. Walter Fuller and his son Walter P. Fuller, the developers who reshaped the western edge of St. Petersburg. In 1914, H. Walter Fuller gifted some prime land on Park Street to Lang and asked him to be president of the new country club. The lot overlooked Boca Ciega Bay to the west and the future golf course property to the east.
When the Jungle golf course opened in 1916, it was Al Lang who hit the inaugural ball off the first tee. Walter P. Fuller writes "except for a brief hiatus following the boom, Lang was the genial and tireless glad-hand president of the Jungle Club for some 15 years. Most of that time he lived across the street from the Jungle Club [now Admiral Farragut Academy], usually greeted the first and the last players to tee off for the day and was loud, cheerful and friendly around the locker room all day."
Al Lang’s craftsman bungalow on Park Street, near the golf course. It was demolished in 1931 when Casa Coe da Sol was built.Lang began bringing major league teams to St. Petersburg in 1914. He understood that professional baseball offered more than sport. It brought visitors during the winter months, filled hotels, and put the city’s name in newspapers far beyond Florida. Spring training was publicity.
After World War I disrupted professional sports, St. Petersburg went several years without a major league presence. Lang persisted and in 1922 he secured the Boston Braves for spring training. The Braves were respectable, but Lang was not looking for any team. He wanted a New York team, one that could deliver national attention.
For several years, Lang courted the New York Giants, then regarded as baseball’s premier franchise. But the game was changing, and so was the nature of celebrity. By the early 1920s, one player had grown larger than the sport itself.
Babe Ruth
Ruth transformed spring training from a routine preseason exercise into a spectacle. Fans traveled to see him. Reporters followed him. His presence alone guaranteed headlines. Lang knew what this meant for St. Petersburg. If the city could attract Ruth, it would attract tourists, photographers, and national attention.
On July 17, 1924, it was announced that Lang had signed a contract with the New York Yankees to train in St. Petersburg, The mood of the city shifted almost overnight. What followed was a surge of optimism that local historian Will Michaels later described as “Ruthmania.” The excitement was not about the Yankees as a team. Without Ruth, they would have drawn little more attention than the Braves. The fascination centered on one man: Babe Ruth.
Walter P. Fuller
At the same time, Florida’s land boom was gathering momentum and speculation was accelerating statewide. On the city’s west side, Fuller owned vast tracts of land in and around an area known as the Jungle. Much of it was valuable on paper but difficult to monetize, leaving him exposed to mounting tax pressures.
That situation changed when investor “Handsome Jack” Taylor arrived from New York and purchased a large swath of Fuller’s west side land for an ambitious land boom project, Pasadena-on-the-Gulf. Fuller suddenly had the capital needed to promote and expand his Jungle enterprises.
In 1924, the Jungle Country Club undertook a major renovation of its clubhouse. With Babe Ruth, famous for his love of golf, now arriving in St. Petersburg each spring, the Jungle was positioned to become more than a local course. It had the potential to serve on the national stage.
The Sunset Hotel
The Sunset Hotel on Park St and Central Ave opened in 1915. Today it is the Crystal Bay Hotel.
Visiting golfers stayed nearby at the Sunset Hotel, only a few blocks south of the course. It was comfortable and convenient, but it was not the kind of place that could function as a social center for baseball’s biggest star and the crowd that followed him.
The Pieces Were Falling Into Place
By the end of 1924, the pieces were falling into place. Lang had secured the most powerful promotional force in American sports. Fuller now had the means to act on long-discussed hotel plans. The club had upgraded its facilities. What remained uncertain was whether those efforts were enough to lure golfer Babe Ruth to the Jungle. But there was a problem.
The Rolyat
On January 11, 1925, plans for a luxury hotel in Pasadena-on-the-Gulf were announced. The Rolyat Hotel would rise three miles south of the Jungle Country Club, near a new golf course. "Handsome Jack" Taylor was aggressively ramping up his Pasadena-on-the-Gulf promotions and hoped to catch Babe's attention just before the slugger's first spring training trip to St. Petersburg. It worked. Less than two months later, Ruth purchased lots in the Pasadena country club section with plans to build a winter home. The opportunity to make Ruth the public face of Lang’s Jungle Country Club was slipping away.
The Rolyat Hotel is now Stetson University College of Law.
Coming up: Part II: When Everything Fell into Place
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The Hotel That Was Built for Babe Ruth Turns 100
On the Centennial of the Jungle Country Club Hotel
The Sunset Hotel on Park St and Central Ave opened in 1915. Today it is the Crystal Bay Hotel.Visiting golfers stayed nearby at the Sunset Hotel, only a few blocks south of the course. It was comfortable and convenient, but it was not the kind of place that could function as a social center for baseball’s biggest star and the crowd that followed him.
The Pieces Were Falling Into Place
By the end of 1924, the pieces were falling into place. Lang had secured the most powerful promotional force in American sports. Fuller now had the means to act on long-discussed hotel plans. The club had upgraded its facilities. What remained uncertain was whether those efforts were enough to lure golfer Babe Ruth to the Jungle. But there was a problem.
The Rolyat
On January 11, 1925, plans for a luxury hotel in Pasadena-on-the-Gulf were announced. The Rolyat Hotel would rise three miles south of the Jungle Country Club, near a new golf course. "Handsome Jack" Taylor was aggressively ramping up his Pasadena-on-the-Gulf promotions and hoped to catch Babe's attention just before the slugger's first spring training trip to St. Petersburg. It worked. Less than two months later, Ruth purchased lots in the Pasadena country club section with plans to build a winter home. The opportunity to make Ruth the public face of Lang’s Jungle Country Club was slipping away.
The Rolyat Hotel is now Stetson University College of Law.Coming up: Part II: When Everything Fell into Place
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hotel That Was Built for Babe Ruth Turns 100
On the Centennial of the Jungle Country Club Hotel
Part II: When Everything Fell into Place
Guests gather beneath Spanish-style umbrellas in the Jungle Hotel courtyard, c.1926.
The Spring Routine
What Lang did not anticipate was competition. Until that point, there had been no serious alternative that combined golf, prestige, and proximity in the way the Jungle did, but that suddenly changed.
In 1925, plans for a luxury hotel, the Rolyat, took shape near the new Pasadena-on-the-Gulf golf course. The project was designed to attract the same seasonal visitors and social prestige that Lang had worked so carefully to cultivate. A few months later, Babe Ruth purchased lots in the country club section of Pasadena with the intention of building a winter home. Taken together, these developments suggested that attention could shift away from the Jungle.
Jungle Clubhouse, 1916-1926.
Raising the Stakes at the First Tee
At the Jungle Country Club, the existing clubhouse, even after recent renovations, was no longer sufficient. It functioned well enough for local golfers, but was not capable of serving as a social hub for the most famous athlete in the world, the executives who followed him, or the reporters who chronicled his every move. The nearby Sunset Hotel offered convenience, but not prestige. If the Jungle was to remain in Babe Ruth’s winter plans, something more substantial was required.
Rather than expanding the clubhouse or delaying action, a decision was made to tear down the newly renovated clubhouse and plans were finalized for a grand hotel built directly beside the first tee of the Jungle golf course. Locker rooms would be situated on the first floor.
On June 13, 1925, Walter Fuller announced plans for the Jungle Country Club Hotel. By the following February, the 100-room hotel would open, timed to coincide with Babe Ruth’s 1926 arrival.
The Great Hotel Race of 1925
Construction moved quickly through 1925. At the same time, other luxury hotels in the city were nearing completion. The Vinoy opened on New Year’s Eve, the Rolyat on New Year’s Day 1926. The Jungle Country Club Hotel debut was delayed until the moment when it could make the strongest possible impression.
That moment came on February 10, 1926.
The hotel opened its doors just as Babe Ruth arrived in St. Petersburg for his preseason conditioning routine. Ruth’s complimentary room was the hotel’s premier suite, overlooking the golf course and directly across the street from Al Lang’s home. Babe Ruth marked the occasion by playing two rounds of golf, making full use of the course and its new facilities.
The hotel’s opening was described as a glittering social event, with more than 250 guests in attendance, imported entertainers, and elaborate décor throughout the building. The occasion was one of the season’s most significant gatherings, setting the tone for the hotel’s role as a social as well as athletic hub. Baseball legend Babe Ruth was present for the opening, helping solidify the association between the hotel and the city’s spring training identity.
A Legend in Residence
In the years that followed, the hotel became an extension of Lang’s baseball ambitions. Springtime banquets were held there drawing baseball executives, businessmen, players and sportswriters. Photographs taken on the grounds circulated nationally. Babe Ruth played hundreds of rounds on the Jungle course, even scoring a rare double eagle on the seventeenth hole, a feat he later described as one of the greatest thrills of his life. His February birthday was celebrated at the hotel each year, drawing national newspaper coverage. Every spring, the Jungle Country Club re-entered the national conversation.
Babe Ruth never built his Pasadena winter home. The Florida land boom was beginning to cool and the Jungle Country Club Hotel provided, free of charge, everything he needed including the suite, privacy, convenience, and a social environment built around him. In effect, Lang and Fuller had already constructed a preseason residence worthy of baseball’s greatest attraction.
Monument to a Bygone Era
Babe Ruth was a driving force behind the hotel’s construction. Had Lang and Fuller concluded they could not meet the ambitious February opening date and opted to wait, the project might have been abandoned entirely since the Florida real estate bubble burst in 1926, making financing for new hotels nearly impossible.
Two decades later, the economic strains of the Great Depression and the disruptions of World War II eventually made the resort impossible to maintain, but not before it defined an era of glamour. During its heyday, the hotel was a whirlwind of high-society galas, baseball banquets, jazz-age dances, Babe Ruth birthday parties, and sun-drenched afternoons on the fairways, creating a lifetime of memories for the travelers who flocked to "The Jungle."
In 1945, the party ended when the property was sold to Admiral Farragut Academy. The golf course has since been transformed into the Azalea residential community. The building itself remains in full use as Farragut Hall. A century later, it stands as a monument to that singular moment when celebrity, sport and ambition aligned. Babe Ruth built the hotel's prominence and secured its permanent place in St. Petersburg history. On its centennial, the hotel reminds us that cities are often shaped by the rare moments when everything falls into place.
Addendum:
The Jungle preseason may have played a silent role in baseball history. After his 1925 hospitalization for the "bellyache heard 'round the world," many sportswriters believed Babe Ruth’s career was in decline, some thought it was over. However, a second act was defined by maturity and discipline and, with the help of preseason conditioning, it led to another decade of dominance.
Career Milestones in Ruth’s Second Act: 1926–1935
Author’s Note on Sources:
This article is based primarily on contemporary newspaper accounts from the St. Petersburg Times and other Florida papers of the 1910s through the 1930s, accessed through archival newspaper databases. Additional information comes from city directories, real estate records, and published works by Walter P. Fuller.
About the author:
The author is publisher of The Jungle Country Club History Project and commissioner of the “Babe Calls His Shot” statue at the entrance to the St. Petersburg Museum of History.
Guests gather beneath Spanish-style umbrellas in the Jungle Hotel courtyard, c.1926.The Spring Routine
By early 1925, Al Lang had good reason to believe that the Jungle Country Club, where he served as president, was poised to play a large role in St. Petersburg’s preseason. In recent years, it was common for many Yankees, including Babe Ruth, to travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas, weeks before the official training camp opened, for preseason conditioning. Golf was a part of their early preparation, and Lang could reasonably expect that Ruth would continue the routine in St. Petersburg, playing the Jungle course and holding court in the renovated clubhouse.
In 1925, plans for a luxury hotel, the Rolyat, took shape near the new Pasadena-on-the-Gulf golf course. The project was designed to attract the same seasonal visitors and social prestige that Lang had worked so carefully to cultivate. A few months later, Babe Ruth purchased lots in the country club section of Pasadena with the intention of building a winter home. Taken together, these developments suggested that attention could shift away from the Jungle.
Jungle Clubhouse, 1916-1926.Raising the Stakes at the First Tee
At the Jungle Country Club, the existing clubhouse, even after recent renovations, was no longer sufficient. It functioned well enough for local golfers, but was not capable of serving as a social hub for the most famous athlete in the world, the executives who followed him, or the reporters who chronicled his every move. The nearby Sunset Hotel offered convenience, but not prestige. If the Jungle was to remain in Babe Ruth’s winter plans, something more substantial was required.
Rather than expanding the clubhouse or delaying action, a decision was made to tear down the newly renovated clubhouse and plans were finalized for a grand hotel built directly beside the first tee of the Jungle golf course. Locker rooms would be situated on the first floor.
On June 13, 1925, Walter Fuller announced plans for the Jungle Country Club Hotel. By the following February, the 100-room hotel would open, timed to coincide with Babe Ruth’s 1926 arrival.
The Great Hotel Race of 1925
Construction moved quickly through 1925. At the same time, other luxury hotels in the city were nearing completion. The Vinoy opened on New Year’s Eve, the Rolyat on New Year’s Day 1926. The Jungle Country Club Hotel debut was delayed until the moment when it could make the strongest possible impression.
That moment came on February 10, 1926.
The hotel opened its doors just as Babe Ruth arrived in St. Petersburg for his preseason conditioning routine. Ruth’s complimentary room was the hotel’s premier suite, overlooking the golf course and directly across the street from Al Lang’s home. Babe Ruth marked the occasion by playing two rounds of golf, making full use of the course and its new facilities.
The hotel’s opening was described as a glittering social event, with more than 250 guests in attendance, imported entertainers, and elaborate décor throughout the building. The occasion was one of the season’s most significant gatherings, setting the tone for the hotel’s role as a social as well as athletic hub. Baseball legend Babe Ruth was present for the opening, helping solidify the association between the hotel and the city’s spring training identity.
A Legend in Residence
In the years that followed, the hotel became an extension of Lang’s baseball ambitions. Springtime banquets were held there drawing baseball executives, businessmen, players and sportswriters. Photographs taken on the grounds circulated nationally. Babe Ruth played hundreds of rounds on the Jungle course, even scoring a rare double eagle on the seventeenth hole, a feat he later described as one of the greatest thrills of his life. His February birthday was celebrated at the hotel each year, drawing national newspaper coverage. Every spring, the Jungle Country Club re-entered the national conversation.
Babe Ruth never built his Pasadena winter home. The Florida land boom was beginning to cool and the Jungle Country Club Hotel provided, free of charge, everything he needed including the suite, privacy, convenience, and a social environment built around him. In effect, Lang and Fuller had already constructed a preseason residence worthy of baseball’s greatest attraction.
Monument to a Bygone Era
Babe Ruth was a driving force behind the hotel’s construction. Had Lang and Fuller concluded they could not meet the ambitious February opening date and opted to wait, the project might have been abandoned entirely since the Florida real estate bubble burst in 1926, making financing for new hotels nearly impossible.
Two decades later, the economic strains of the Great Depression and the disruptions of World War II eventually made the resort impossible to maintain, but not before it defined an era of glamour. During its heyday, the hotel was a whirlwind of high-society galas, baseball banquets, jazz-age dances, Babe Ruth birthday parties, and sun-drenched afternoons on the fairways, creating a lifetime of memories for the travelers who flocked to "The Jungle."
In 1945, the party ended when the property was sold to Admiral Farragut Academy. The golf course has since been transformed into the Azalea residential community. The building itself remains in full use as Farragut Hall. A century later, it stands as a monument to that singular moment when celebrity, sport and ambition aligned. Babe Ruth built the hotel's prominence and secured its permanent place in St. Petersburg history. On its centennial, the hotel reminds us that cities are often shaped by the rare moments when everything falls into place.
Addendum:
The Jungle preseason may have played a silent role in baseball history. After his 1925 hospitalization for the "bellyache heard 'round the world," many sportswriters believed Babe Ruth’s career was in decline, some thought it was over. However, a second act was defined by maturity and discipline and, with the help of preseason conditioning, it led to another decade of dominance.
Career Milestones in Ruth’s Second Act: 1926–1935
- The 60 Home Run Season (1927): Ruth set a monumental record of 60 home runs in a single season, a feat that stood for 34 years.
- The 1927 "Murderers' Row": He anchored the 1927 Yankees; a team widely regarded as the greatest in baseball history.
- Three World Series Titles: Following his 1925 slump, Ruth led the Yankees to World Series championships in 1927, 1928, and 1932.
- The "Called Shot" (1932): During Game 3 of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, Ruth famously gestured toward the center-field bleachers before hitting a home run exactly where he pointed.
- Statistical Dominance: From 1926 to 1932, he averaged 49 home runs per season and maintained a .353 batting average.
Author’s Note on Sources:
This article is based primarily on contemporary newspaper accounts from the St. Petersburg Times and other Florida papers of the 1910s through the 1930s, accessed through archival newspaper databases. Additional information comes from city directories, real estate records, and published works by Walter P. Fuller.
Note on Chronology: While some previous accounts, notably Walter P. Fuller's own recollections and histories by other authors, suggest different timelines for the west side boom, the chronology in this article is based on a primary source review of St. Petersburg Times and Evening Independent archives from 1925–1926. These contemporary records confirm:
Hotel Openings: The Sunset Hotel (1915) was the first west side luxury hotel, followed by the Hotel Rolyat on January 1, 1926. The Jungle Country Club Hotel opened last, on February 10, 1926.
Babe Ruth's Attendance: Contrary to reports of his presence at the Rolyat’s January 1 opening, travel logs and press coverage place Ruth in New York at that time; he did not arrive in St. Petersburg until early February 1926.
Announcement Sequence: Newspaper records from January 1925 show that plans for the Rolyat were formally announced prior to those of the Jungle Hotel in June.
Correcting these dates is vital for understanding the competition between "Handsome Jack" Taylor and Al Lang for Babe Ruth’s endorsement.
About the author:
The author is publisher of The Jungle Country Club History Project and commissioner of the “Babe Calls His Shot” statue at the entrance to the St. Petersburg Museum of History.