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 was designed in the prevalent Art Deco style. It was the first hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach and 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 Fort Lauderdale’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 is the only Roy France Hotel in Broward County.

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, where Las Olas Beach Club luxury condominium now stands.

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.  The 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.

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 a historic designation application filed a few days later by a group that would later later be known as The Broward Trust for Historic Preservation. The Fort Lauderdale Historic Preservation Board unanimously recommended landmark status for the beach’s oldest hotel on January 14, 2002. It wasn’t until the early summer of 2004 an agreement was reached between the City of Fort Lauderdale, The Broward Trust for Historic Preservation, and the 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. The trust agreed to support a modified development which moved plans forward for the 28-story condo tower and adjacent garage which are now the completed Las Olas Beach Club, perhaps the most magnificent luxury condominium on Fort Lauderdale’s beach. 

The entire north, east, and south sides of the 1936-1937 hotel, plus small portions of the west side, were protected by landmark status granted by the City Commission on October 19, 2004.