Built as the Hotel Rolyat in 1925, these Mediterranean Revival buildings were designed by Paul Reed of the Miami architectural firm of Kiehnel & Elliot for developer Jack Taylor. After the collapse of the Florida land boom, the Mendels brothers of New York purchased the hotel in 1929 and operated it until 1932, when they bought the Florida Military Academy and moved it to this site. Stetson University had opened Florida's first law school in DeLand in 1900 after its first president, Dr. John Forbes, recognized the need for one. When the College of Law required larger facilities in a metropolitan area, Stetson University bought this property in 1953 and moved the law school to Gulfport, where classes began on September 20, 1954.