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This is the pool—immortalized in the movies of resort destination in the Limited States in the
synchronized swimmer Esther Williams,voted 1920s and'30s.In the earliest days of Miami's
by Travel&Leisure magazine as one of the ten transformation from a sub-tropical barrier
most beautiful in the world,lauded by Life in island,developers,engineers and entrepreneurs
the fifties as the most glamorous swimming were more interested in making the fledgling
pool in Florida,this giant pastiche of baroque city pseudo-Mediterranean.The first grand
curves surrounded by Moroccan medjul palm hotels were built in the elaborate and hugely
trees can still,more than six decades later,elicit expensive manner of the properties of Nice
oohs and ahs from new guests.There are larger and Cannes—because Miami had been pegged
pools in Miami,some with fountains in the as a rich man's playground.this was the
middle,but none has the sensational impart architectural sty Ir assumed to be appropriate.
of the Raleigh's jewel-like Art Deco lagoon. But the Mediterranean Revival came to an
Designed and built in 1940 at the peak abrupt end with the stock market crash of
of Miami's formative years,the Raleigh is one 1929.It was during the post-Depression 1930s
of architect Lawrence Murray Dixon's mature that Miami Beth acquired the iconic style fur
works.Dixon,recently the subject of a major which it is renowned today.'Iimrism for the
retrospective at the Bass Museum of Art,was middle classes,not just the rich,was the new
the most prolific and acclaimed architect of popular dream of the 1930s,and Miami was
Miami Beach during the 1930s and'40s.As the not only the fastest growing city in the Limited
designer of the Tides,the,Marlin,the Atlantis States,but its architects were inventing a new
and numerous other hotels and apartment aesthetic to embody that dream.They ditched
buildings,Dixon is credited with bringing Art the lavish and anachronistic Mediterranean
Deco to Miami.This part of the city has been idiom in favor of streamlined Art Deco.
listed in its entirety on the National Register This was a style that was unequivocally
of Historic Buildings. oriented to the future. It celebrated the
What distinguishes Dixon's legacy above all industrial age with a visual vocabulary that
is the way that he reinvented the art Deco style borrowed heavily from the great ocean liners
to suit Miami's emergence as the pre-eminent of the era:buildings had masts,polished metal
.111
the raleigh
surfaces,shiny glass,and exterior trim lines Among the many architectural treasures
in bright greens,blues,oranges or pinks set that have survived from Miami's golden age,the
against huge expanses of neutral white or Raleigh has always been able to claim the best
beige,echoing the hull of a ship. It was a style bones.So it's highly appropriate that this most
disciplined by the constraints of budget,and South Beach of all South Beach hotels should
the Art I)eco buildings of South Beach are have fallen into the capable hands of:Andre
essentially fairly simple box-like structures. Balazs.As proprietor and impresario of sow
But they are saved from the banality of their of America's most individual hotels,Balazs is
uniform geometry by flamboyant ornamental famous for his ability to make a place hip. His
flourishes,an adornment that came to express flair is not just for creating surface style,but
the fantasy of Florida. Pelicans,tropical fish, also for pinpointing and amplifying the essence
serpents and palm trees were incorporated into of what makes a particular place unique.The
stylized sculptural friezes along the exterior of Mercer is Solo to the core,Chateau Marmont
many buildings.Inside,it became practically ioas LA as it gets,and now Balazs is pulling off
inconceivable by the mid-193Os for a hotel not the same feat with Miami's legendary Raleigh.
to have murals.These featured everything from Art Deco was never just about seductive show,
a Native:American paddling his canoe through it was also about the art of living,and it's this
the Florida Everglades to dancing figures dual philosophy that Balazs has brought to the
frolicking on a beach to wild geese and pink renovation of the Raleigh.The result is neither
flamingos lifting into flight beneath a silver loud nor flashy,but memorable in a more
ceiling:the visual themes captured the escapist subtle way—like an exquisitely tailored suit,
fantasy that Miami represented in the national whose quality,originality and impeccable taste
imagination. reveal themselves without the need for fanfare.
address The Raleigh Hotel,South Beach,Ocean Front at 1775 Collins Avenue,Miami Beach,Florida 33139
t +1 (305)534 6300 f +1(305)538 8140 e reservations®raleighhotel.com
room rates from$275
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HERBERT,PMA
HOTELS
with 474 dlustratIons 35
Thames&Hudson
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ISBN 0-500-28404-0
5 2 9 11
e144- Thames & Hudson 11
9 780500 284049
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