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The Lauderdale Beach Hotel We Knew
In 1936 noted Miami Beach architect Roy F. France was hired by Fort Lauderdale banker James Knight to design the three-story, 60-room Lauderdale Beach Hotel. This deluxe facility just north of Las Olas Boulevard in the prevalent Art Deco style, was the first hotel on the beach. It was so successful that less than a year later, France was asked to design a six-story addition to the south, increasing the capacity to 150 rooms. For nearly 40 years, the Knight and Stilwell families owned and managed the “Queen of the Beach” resort which grew to include a large swimming pool, tennis court and putting green. [Longtime president and manager, Thomas Stilwell was the son-in-law of Charles Knight, son of the original builder James. Knight.]
The popularity of this first beach hotel and resort initiated development of the city’s tourist economy following the disastrous 1926 hurricane and the Depression. In 1938, the Fort Lauderdale News called it “one of the most imposing structures in Florida.” It was the only Roy France Hotel in Broward County.
In Miami Beach, France was the most prolific hotel architect of the 1935-to-WWII period working in the Art Deco, Streamline and Post War Moderne style. Eighteen of his projects remain in the Miami Beach/Collins Waterfront Historic District. In the Art Deco Historic District of South Beach, he designed the National Hotel, the St. Moritz and the Edgewater Beach Hotel. By the early 1940s, France’s buildings had virtually created the mid-beach skyline. The Sea Isle, The Patrician, Versailles, Ocean Grande, Cadillac and after WWII, the Saxony, Sans Souci and Casablanca are among his best known.
The Art Deco style elegance of Lauderdale Beach Hotel attracted notable patrons such as U.S. Senator Harry Truman. Travel guides and advertisements from the 1940s to 1970s promoted “black tie dining service, luncheon and dinner music, weekly dances, bridge, servants’ rooms and hotel limo service to and from stations.” For a time, a boardwalk extended along the beach in front of the hotel.
During World War II, the hotel contributed significantly to Fort Lauderdale’s importance as a U.S. Navy Training Center. With the nearby Trade Winds Hotel, it became a top secret Naval Radar and Range Finder School from June 1943 to January 1946. Records indicate at least 5,000 seamen graduated at least one class every 60 days. Range finders and other secret equipment were mounted on the top of the two hotels. Tight security prevailed. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic were routed around them with wire fences blocking off the beach. After the war, many veterans returned to make their homes in Broward County.
In late 1946, the hotel reopened under the management of Charles Knight. In April 1974 it was purchased by the Dublin-based Guinness-Mahon Company who sold it a few years later to a Media, Pennsylvania developer, William Strine. A marketing firm Strine hired is credited with starting the infamous Fort Lauderdale “Spring Break” by advertising the hotel’s beachfront features at 52 United States college campuses. In reaction to the overwhelming annual student pilgrimage, Strine eventually turned to attracting convention business in 1988 when he put over $2 million into extensive renovation. For several more years his firm managed the now 200-room hotel with its two popular restaurants, H2o Mediterranean Bar & Grill and McDonald’s.
Strine’s plans to demolish the hotel and build a 28-story condominium tower were presented to the City’s Planning and Zoning board on October 17, 2001 and approved 5-3. Demolition and construction were delayed by an historic designation application filed a few days later by Steven Glassman and Diane Smart. They were soon joined by other South Floridians alarmed about the demise of a beach icon that had sparked the city’s lucrative tourist industry. [That group grew quickly to become The Broward Trust for Historic Preservation in August 2002.]
The Fort Lauderdale Historic Preservation Board unanimously recommended landmark status for the beach’s oldest hotel on January 14, 2002. It wasn’t until early summer of 2004 after several legal hurdles, before a compromise was reached between the City of Fort Lauderdale, the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation and a now-expanded ownership of the property. (William Strine had joined forces with The Related Group of Miami to become known as TRG&S Las Olas Beach Club.)
In a settlement agreement, the Trust dropped a lawsuit against the City of Fort Lauderdale seeking to block the condo project. It agreed to support a modified development which moved plans forward for a 28-story condo tower and adjacent garage. The entire north, east and south sides of the 1936-37 hotel, plus small portions of the west side were protected by landmark status granted by the City Commission 10/19/04..
TRG&S Las Olas Beach Club gave the Trust a deed of preservation easement 6/24/04 which grants monitoring and enforcement rights in the restoration, maintenance and protection of the facades plus funds to further its mission as advocate of preserving other significant architecture throughout Broward County.
The TRG&S Las Olas Beach Club agreed to hire architectural preservation experts William Medellin and Ellen Uguccioni to supervise and approve construction methods and materials for the restoration. The Trust agreed to support the condo project. Monthly on-site meetings to monitor the restoration were held throughout the three year construction period by the Trust, restoration architect and the project manager.
Two fireplaces, the original elevator, a decorative frieze over the original lobby entrance and a stairway with art deco railings connecting six floors of the south section remain. Custom-made window replacements conforming to current code and faithful to the original design have been installed throughout the historic building. Paint consultants have confirmed the off-white color of the original natural limestone exterior .
For 77 years the historic hotel clock tower has witnessed violent storms, World War II anxieties, U.S. Naval training activities, Spring Break pranks, the dust of demolition, and the cacophony of new construction. Its tired and rusted mechanical works have been replaced by a 21st century high-tech satellite-guided movement. Today we celebrate its survival.
In 2008 a certificate of occupancy was issued to The Related Group for the completion of its entire project.. Facing the ocean on SR A1A are a restaurant and two retail stores. On the floors above are seven spacious condominium apartments with spectacular views unlike any on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
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