Fontainebleau Hotel Historic Report Aug 2005o
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Prepared for:
Melanie Muss
Fontainebleau Resort
4441 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33140
T 30s.674.4669
F 305.532.6355
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report prepared August 2005 by:
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
100 Northeast 38th Sffeet, Space 2
Miami, Florida 33137
305.438.0609 T
305.438.0170 F
www.shulmanarchitect.com E
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O Fontainebleau Hotel
O Miami Beach
O Copyright @ 2006:Allan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
a Compilation: Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A. All rights reserved.
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Historic Report, August 3l, Z0O5
Allan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
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Index: Volume I
I. Introduction
Preliminary Remarks
Chronologies: Permits and Building History
Ownership listing from City Directory of Miami Beach
Map of Original and Added Structures
Site "Nolli" Plan at Lobby Level
II. Historical Analysis
The Snowden/Firestone Estate ( I 91 5- I 952)
The Fontainebleau: Design & Construction (1952-1954)
The Grand Ball (Opening, December 1954)
Expansion Northward: Fontainebleau vs. Eden Roc (1958-1961)
The Fontainebleau as a Mid-Century Cultural lcon
Miami Herald Investigation (late 1960s)
Economic Decline (197 6-1977)
Competing to Purchase the Fontainebleau Hotel (1977-t978)
Purchase and Resurrection
Expansion & Redevelopment (1997 -2005)
Founding Personalities: Ben Novack and Morris Lapidus
Retrospective
III. Contemporary Photo Survey
Exterior
Chateau Building: Lobby and Tower
Versailles Building: Ballrooms, Meeting Rooms, & Tower
Cookie, Cabanas, Pool, & Kids Cove
Fontainebleau II Lobby and Tower
Index: Volume II
IV. Research Materials
Newspaper and Journal Articles
Abrreviated Building Card
Abbreviated Microfilm
Blueprints of Added Structures
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
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24s
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Preliminary Remarks
The present report and affached documents comprise a survey of the Fontainebleau Hotel and
surrounding grounds. It has been prepared in anticipation of the site's designation as part of an
historic district.
The attached study provides an overview of the existing structures based on available documen-
tation. It includes an historical narrative, vintage maps, photographs, and original blueprints, as
well as the City of Miami Beach Building Card documenting the permits of structures on the
property.
The Fontainebleau Hotel and properfy comprises several added structures in addition to the
original main hotel buildings of 1954. Added structures and spaces include the ballrooms and
Versailles building, lower lobby and level IV conference rooms, pool, landscaping, and ocean-
front cafe and the Fontainebleau [I tower completed in 2005. In the map which accompanies
this report, the main hotel building and added structures are identified chronologically.
Fontainebleau Hotel Historic Resources Report
July 25, 2005 Droft: Not for citation, reproduction or cir-
culation without written consent of authors.
Editing: Allan Shulman
Writing: Allan Shulman & Kara Wood
Layout & Design: Lattren Lue
Research Assistance: Carolltn Klepser & Maria Casuscelli
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
o
a Fontainebleau HotelO Miami Beach
: chronotog.v-o
O i-914 l5-bedroom mansion built by James H. Snowden, a Standard Oil Co.
O executive
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- 1923 Estate purchased for $250, 000 by Harvey Firestone, auto tire magnateo
O February 7, lg38 Harvey Firestone Dies in his sleep
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O July 1952 Firestone Estate sold to Ben Novack for $2,300,000
? December 29,1953 Permit issued for 150'CBS building with concrete piling foundation, flarO roof,624 water closets, 858 lavatories, 538 bath tubs, 261 showers.
O Architect Morris Lapidus
: [)54 Former Firestone Estate mansion being used by Novack and Taylor
' Construction as construction offrceso
O February 10, 1954 Two 275-foot long groynes, and addition of 48 ft on two existing groynes
: June 24,1954 Swimming pool, 120'x 50', and approximately 250 cabanaso
O October 27, Lg54 Firestone mansion demolished
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O November 5, 1954 33 one-story cabanas and 225 feet of steel groyne
O November 18, 1954 Parking district #1, facility of 381 carso
O December 4, 1954 "Pussy Cat" pool, approximately 40'x 70'(irregular shape)
o
^ February 18, 1955 16 timber pier docksOJ
O December 20,lg55 Parking Control Station
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O December 22,1955 Tennis House, 12'x 20'x l0'
? August 10, 1956 New terrace and private dining room, addition to pool deck, addition toO "Boom-Boom Room"a
O November 1957 Novack briefly deposed from the management of the hotel
? July 2, 1958 Demolition of approximately t6 cabanas on north side of properryO
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O Historic Report, August 31, 2005
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July 3 l, 1958
October 7, 1958
October 16, 1958
July 31, 1958
May 1959
July 23, 1959
May 9, 1960
January 1961
May 19, 196l
October 3, l96l
October 27, L96l
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
73,500 square-foot building (2 l0' front, 416'depth, 47' height) , I and 2
stories: 2 parking levels for 273 cars, one floor and mezzanine floor of
public space
Permission granted for parking level in setback area to a height of 5'0,,
above grade as permitted in parking district number 3." Architect A.
Herbert Mathes
variance granted for addition to La Ronde Supper club to extend within
5l ft. of property line on collins Avenue (area District No. 69 requires
65-foot setback from Collins). Architect A. Herbert Mathes
New 14 story cBS building: 339 hotel rooms and l8 apartments (13 2-
bedroom,4 l-bedroom, I 4-bedroom). Front: east 50'6',, depth: 410'11",
height: 159'2." Architect A. Herbert Mathes
In Florida State Supreme court; Fontainebleau won right to build 14-
story building next to Eden Roc hotel; Novack adds 335-room
Fontainebleau Towers creating "world's biggest spite fence"
zBA granted variance to extend 3 building wall projections 6 ft. into
north 20 ft. side yard setback along north wall: on east end, projection to
extend '/4'6" on floors 12-14; on west end, projection to extend 53'9" on
floors 13-14; in center, projection to extend l4'0". Architect: A. Herbert
Mathes
ZBA granted variance for 3-level parking garage on southwest portion of
property to extend within 5 ft. of both Collins Avenue and 44th Street.
Elevation at top deck approximately l3'above grade with grille extend-
ing additional l0' surrounding top deck. Architect A. Herbert Mathes
Novack argues for Miami Beach secession from Dade county over value
received from paid taxes
Enclose Patio & enlarge present rosewood room
Addition of roofing over existing "kifty cat" pool; addition of bowling
alley on first floor level of existing cabanas
ZBA granted variance for construction of roof above existing cabanas,
28'above mean low water mark. Architect A. Herbert Mathes
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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March 16, 1962
May 1963
1965
July 1965
November 4, 1966
January 6,1967
May 1967
June 1967
Mid-June 1967
August 17, 1967
August 27, 1968
May 12, 1969
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Roof deck over cabana area from existing 2 story cabanas to extension of
roof at "kitty cat" pool. Ice skating rink, 75'x 56', north of swimming
pool (accessory use of hotel - not to be open to the public
The Miami Herald reported that IRS was investigating tax returns filed
by Fontainebleau that included questionable and untraceable deductions
for 'rebate credit slips'given to 'unidentified persons'
Novack offers $100,000 to House of Assembly member to lobby for
Bahamian gambling license application
Fontainebleau requests lower tax assessment due to low profits
variance granted for construction of four finger docks to extend 40' into
Indian creek on condition that all docking of boats is to be from bulk-
head out. Contractor Atlantic Foundation Company
variance granted for construction of two finger piers 6'wide, to extend
40'into Indian Creek, and extension of 15'to an existing l5'dock
The Miami Herald begins investigations into Fontainebleau connections
to Mafia
Ben Novak's marital difficulties resolved with uncontested divorce on
charges by Bernice Novack of 'mental cruelty'
North wing of hotel suffered fire in upper level storage room
Fontainebleau asked circuit court to stop 'harassment tactics' by The
Miami Herald in defense of $ l0 million libel suit brought against them
by the hotel. Lawyers for The Herald successfully argued that newspa-
per's inquiry was "in good faith"
South part of cabanas to be demolished
variance granted for addition to northeast portion of Sorrento Hotel,
extending to southeast portion of Fontainebleau property (now all under
one ownership) to setback of 90'from harbor line, with condition that
construction commence within 6 months and applicant provide 208 park-
ing spaces for the 138 units
Novack added another 265 rooms in buying the neighboring Sorrento
Hotel, rebuilt with spa as Fontainebleau South
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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May ll, 1970
May 1972
luly 1972
August 1972
October 1973
September 1974
November l, 1974
November 17, 1974
February 1975
April 1976
June 2,1976
December 10, 1976
January 1977
t977
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Request variance to construct a canopy for restaurant to be known as the
"Gaslight Club"
Convicted mob triggerman Joseph (the Baron) Barboza, told a congres-
sional committee that Frank Sinatra fronted part ownership in
Fontainebleau for New England Mafia boss Raymond patriarca
Fontainebleau is HQ for Democratic National committee during conven-
tion
Protesters attempt to block entry for attendees to Republican Convention
at Fontainebleau
Florida State Attorney investigating bugged hotel rooms and tapped
phones during 1972 Democratic National Convention at Fontainebleau
Roland International purchased an option to buy Fontainebleau
New corporation took control with Novack as minority partner
The Herald reported that foreclosure suit on first mortgage on
Fontainebleau, held by connecticut General Life Insurance co., was dis-
missed when Novack paid $250,000 in back payments
Novack acknowledged option to buy but denied reports of pending clos-
ing for $30 million
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy rejected repeated recommendations
from his department's organized crime Section for tax investigation of
Frank Sinatra and his ties with l5 Mafia leaders
Miami Beach Council disclosed the hotel was behind near Sl.3 million in
property taxes
Repair swimming pool
Roland Intemational corp. fited suit to retrieve $4.3 million in unpaid
loans made to develop Fontainebleau Park west of airport
Director of Black Tuna drug smuggling gang attempted to rescue finan-
cially-floundering Fontainebleau in exchange of Novack appearing in
court as character witness for two gang directors
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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O Fontainebleau HotelO Miami Beach
? March 14, 1977 Novack removed from control of the hotelo
O Apil14,1977 Novack filed to place the Fontainebleau in bankruptcy
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O May 3,1977 Novack filed for personal bankruptcy
O June 28,1977 Novack surrendered control of the Fontainebleauo
O September 19,1977 Four Miami Beach hotels damaged by succession of bombs
: November 1977 Two bids offered for purchase of Fontainebleauo
O December 2,1977 Stephen Muss and Roland International Corp. won court approval to buy
O bankrupt Fontainebleau Hotel
: End of 1,977 Fontainebleau properry crippled by beach erosiono
O March 14,1978 Stephen Muss/Hotelerama purchased Fontainebleau Hotel
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O April 1978 Hotelerama invested $45 million in improvements
O June 1978 Hotelerama signed 2}-yearmanagemenr agreement with Hiltono
O June 29, 1978 "Deconstruction Party" kicked offwrecking of 3-story cabana building
O and pool deck that had been blocking view ofocean
O October g,lg78 Commercial swimming pool, 334,500 gallons, S186,000. ContractorO Edwin M. Green
o
O January 26,1979 Apply VIP roof system over walkway
O January 29, l97g Alteration to longhouse and snack baro
O March 9,1979 Mountain waterfall framing
: April 15, 1980 Build 3-level parking garage using setback*o
O September 7, lg82 Convert offices in lobby to jewelry store
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O September 17, 1982 Refurbished La Ronde Room and re-created "the nightclub ambiance of
O 1943 - when everybody who was anybody wintered thereabouts"
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February 20,1984
July 6, 1984
April 5, 1985
May 19, 1987
November 8, 1988
January 5, 1988
November 17, 1997
May 5,2000
September 19, 2000
January 2001
January 3 l, 2001
February 15,2001
May 10,2001
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Fontainebleau celebrated 3Oth birthday with intimate party that headlined
new mayor of Fontainebleau,, France, Paul Seramy. The Herald noted
that Lapidus and Novack were still "acidly feuding over who designed
the hotel in 1952]'
For addition of night club/restaurant at northeast corner, ZBA granted
requests to waive l) 165'of required 300 ft. separation between night
club and place of worship (actual separation is 135 ft.),2) all of required
50 ft. rear yard setback at pedestal, 3) waive 79, 3,, of 99'3', north side
yard setback at ground and pedestal levels, and 4) all of required 50 ft.
rear setback at ground level for pool enclosure around existing pool at
southeast corner. A request to waive 125 additional off-street parking
spaces for additional l9 units and operation of 424-seat night club/restau-
rant was not granted. Architect: Arc-Tech Associates.
Ben Novack died of heart and lung failure at Mount Sinai Medical Center
certificate of occupancy for meeting rooms, ballroom #2, promenade,
north tower area 4ft floor center, east section of building, kosher kitchen,
ballroom level east section, upper parking level
Approved for new meeting rooms and ballroom expansion with .,contrac-
tual agreement ... with the city calling for the lot to be maintained as a
parking lot for the Fontainebleau." Architect: Arc-Tech Associates.
Re-consffuction of restaurant
Application for 4l-story 250 unit apt w/garage*
Build a 36-story 230 unitsl23l apts. & parking*
Cabana Demolition
Death of Lapidus prompted Herbert
architect of "swank"
Roof-top addition*
Interior demo & lobby*
Chickee Hut*
Muschamp to re-analyze role of
Historic Report, August 31,2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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O Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
: Jruy 22,2003 Variance for 15'pedestal side setback. Architect: Nichols BroschO '
Sandoval&Associates.
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O September 16,2003 Revisions to architectural & landscaping plans*
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a November 18,2003 To erect 200' lS-story building at southeast corner of property
O April 19, 1005 Request extension for commencement of construction.
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: *Taken from the City of Miami Beach Planning and Zoning Master [ndex of Land Use Files.u All others taken from Building Card and original application files.o
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o Fontainebleau Property
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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City Directory Listings for
1915 No Listing
1916 No Listing
l9l7 No Listing
l9l8 No Listing
l9l9 No Listing
1920 No Listing
l92l No Listing
1922 No Listing
1923 No Listing
1924 Harvey Firestone
1925 Harvey Firestone
1926 Harvey Firestone
1927 Harvey Firestone
1928 Harvey Firestone
1929 Harvey Firestone
1930 Harvey Firestone
1931 Harvey Firestone
1932 Harvey Firestone
1933 Harvey Firestone
1934 Harvey Firestone
1935 Harvey Firestone
1936 Harvey Firestone
1937 Harvey Firestone
1938 Harvey Firestone
1939 Harvey Firestone
1940 Harvey Firestone
l94l Harvey Firestone
1942 Harvey Firestone
1943 Harvey Firestone
1944 Harvey Firestone
1945 Harvey Firestone
1946 Harvey Firestone
1947 Harvey Firestone
1948 Harvey Firestone
1949 Harvey Firestone
1950 Harvey Firestone
1951 Harvey Firestone
1952 Harvey Firestone
1953 Harvey Firestone
1954 FontainebleauHotel
1955 FontainebleauHotel
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1956 Fontainebleau Hotel
1957 FontainebleauHotel
1958 FontainebleauHotel
1959 FontainebleauHotel
1960 Fontainebleau Hotel Stewart Duke Exec. Managerl96l Fontainebleau Hotel Stewart Duke Exec. Manager
1962 Fontainebleau Hotel Stewart Duke Exec. Manager
1963 FontainebleauHotel
1964 Fontainebleau Hotel
1965 Fontainebleau Hotel
1966 Fontainebleau Hotel
1967 FontainebleauHotel
1968 Fontainebleau Hotel
1969 Fontainebleau Hotel
1970 FontainebleauHotel
l97l FontainebleauHotel
1972 Fontainebleau Hotel
1973 FontainebleauHotel
1974 Fontainebleau Hotel
1975 Fontainebleau Hotel
1976 Fontainebleau Hotel
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
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Existing Roof Plan, including Proposed Fontainbteau llt
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
1m
"Nolli" Plan including Proposed Fontainbleau ilt
Historical Analysis
Fontainebleau lfotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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The Snowden/Firestone Estate (1915-1952)
The site of the Fontainebleau Hotel, bordered by 44th Street to the south and Collins Avenue to
the west, has been a pivotal location, literally, since the incorporation of Miami Beach in l9l5:
it marks the juncture of the Miami Beach lmprovement Company's Oceanfront Subdivision on
the south (terminatin g at 44th Street) and Carl Fisher's Indian Beach Subdivision on the north.
While in the former, as Carolyn Klepser notes, "Collins Avenue runs equitably through the mid-
dle, affording building lots of both the Ocean and Indian Creek, suitable for middle-class
homes,"l in the latter Cottins Avenue runs along Indian Creek, creating large and secluded
oceanfront lots for the private estates of 'Millionaires'Row.'
It was at this strategic site that James Snowden, (a Standard Oil Co. executive and friend of
Carl Fisher), built a l5-bedroom mansion in 1919. In addition to the main house were three
other structures: a guest house, garages with servants'quarters above, and a colorful doll
house.2 The estate was purchased in 1923 by Harvey Firestone, the auto tire magnate, for
5250,000. Firestone used the estate to entertain world-renowned figures in science, industry and
government, making it the most famous site on Miami Beach. President Warren G. Harding,
Henry Ford, naturalist John Burroughs and Thomas A. Edison were all guests there-
James H. Snowden Esfafe postcard
Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida postcard coltection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
JAIft d. ltOWOa. Clitltl. lLtOara l|ar€I- {1arr, t\l
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Firestone died in his sleep on February 7, 1938 at age 69 3 at the home, which had been
renamed Harbel Villa. a The property was held by his widow, Mrs. Idabelle Smith Firestone,
until its sale to the Fontainebleau Hotel Corporation, headed by Ben Novack, operator of the
Sans Souci Hotel, in July 1952 for a reported $2,300,000.5 The city of Miami Beach had report-
edly tried several times to buy the Firestone estate for the creation of a park, but presumably
lacked sufficient resources to meet the asking price. City representatives were even so bold as
to suggest that the estate of Harvey Firestone donate the land as a park, a proposal that was
only met with scoffs.6
I Carolyn Klepser, "Neighborhood Designation Report," Collins Waterfront Historic District, Miami Beach,
November 2000.
2 Harold Gardneq publicity office for Fontainebleau, copy of undated press release draft, circa December 1954.
3 "Harvey Firestone is Dead in Florida," New York lrzres, February 8, 1938.
4 Th" nu.. "Harbel," given to their Miami Beach home, merged "Harvey" and "Idabelle." The title was also given
to their rubber plantation in Liberia, so vast at one million acres, that it is also the name of the nearby town. (New
Intemationalist magazine on-line, wlr'w.newint.orgv'issue I J l,:rubber.htm, June 20, 2005.)
5 "Firestone Estate Sold," New York Times, July 23, lgl2.
6 "Firestone Gift? Beach Gets Laugh," The Miami Heraltl, February 21,1952.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Firestone Esfate, 4441 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
lmage courtesy of the Histoical Museum of south Ftorida, Mattack coilection
tmagecourtesy",,n['[f,illii,f i]i,?;,',ii!,t{Zf ,l"Ef":;r",Mailackcoilection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
II l-r
Sanbom fire insurunce map of Miami Beach, 1g21
Courtesy of Digital Sanbom Maps: 186T-1970 (http://sanbom.umi.com)
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Courtesy of Digital Sanbom Maps: 1867-19T0 (http://sanbom.umi.com)
Fontainebleau Ifotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
The Fontainebleau: Design and Construction (1952-1954)
A crucial component of any proposed hotel development at the Firestone Estate was the rezon-
ing of the property from Estate Residential to hotel use. The zoning change elicited a powerful
controversy that split residents, property owners, commercial interests and hotel interests. Hotel
interests were concerned that the change would flood, and therefore bankrupt their market.
Some owners of nearby residential-zoned lots claimed that the rezoning would devalue their
property; some were already being forced out of their own homes in the area by the dramatic
rise in taxes that they could no longer afford. Others, including city officials, argued that Miami
Beach's stunning population growth between 1930, when the land was zoned (7,000), and 1953
(46,000 year-round residents plus 125,000 winter tourists), warranted the development of addi-
tional hotel accommodations. They also claimed that the widening of Collins Avenue north of
44th Street had created a "main arterial highway" on that section of the city, and that, in the
process, privacy to homeowners had already been sacrificed. In January 1953, the New York
Times reported that the Circuit Court had ruled to uphold the change in Miami Beach rezoning
on the oceanfront lots north of 44th Street from estates to hotels. Judge Gordon, who was
responsible for the court's decision, said that "this strip of eighty-six lots has been in a state of
arrested development," and that by rezoning the property, land values would increase by
400%.1 The zoning change cleared the way for the Fontainebleau and later Eden Roc hotels,
and eventually the redevelopment of Millionaire's Row, into one of the world's greatest aggre-
gations of postwar resort architecture.
When the permit for the Fontainebleau Hotel was issued on December 29,1953, it was the
largest permit ever gtanted by the City of Miami Beach. The site comprised 700 feet along the
ocean and 500 feet in depth. The permit was granted for a 150-foot tall CBS building with a
concrete piling foundation and flat roof, including 624 water closets, 858 lavatories, 538 bath
tubs and 261 showers. The 6,000 square foot swimming pool and approximately 250 cabanas
were pernitted on June 24, 1954, and 33 additional cabanas and a 38 l -car parking facility were
permitted later that year in November. Weeks before the hotel opened, the "Pussy Cat" chil-
dren's pool, approximately 40 feet by 70 feet, was approved. The Fontainebleau's original size
and amenities constituted, by almost any standard, a breakthrough in resort hotel design.
The eleven month construction employed 1,200 workers. The sizeable investment of
$14,000,000, including $2,400,000 paid for the land and S2,000,000 for equipment and fumish-
ings 2 was financed by 32 original partners. 3 In addition to Ben Novack, the Daily News
reported that other members of the hotels board of directors included Herbert Glassman, Jules
M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Joe Novack, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. a The exist-
ing Harbel Villa became the construction headquarters for the new hotel and its builder, Taylor
Construction, with the breakfast room as the private offrce of Ben Novack. tn the solarium, a
model of the architect's vision was on public display. Morris Lapidus, who had previously
designed the interiors of the Sans Souci for Ben Novack and was associated with several other
hotel projects, was architect, his first major solo commission.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
The hotel was to be the largest in Miami Beach with its
main structure occupying nearly five of the fourteen
acres of its site, with 554 rooms in an eleven-story gen-
tly curving 440-foot-long slab built over three-floor
pedestal. The pedestal included a main lobby of about
17,000 square feet, a Grand Ballroom or convention
room seating I,000 dining-room style next to a main
dining room with a capacity of 550 (which could be
combined to accommodate 3,000), small private dining
rooms seating 125 and a breakfast room seatingZ00.
The La Ronde Supper Club, with seating for 500, had a
stage that could be raised and lowered hydraulically. A
ground floor retail concourse had shops, a post office,
health clinic and stock brokerage offices, coffee shop,
club-rooms and a cocktail lounge; there were solaria,
Russian and Turkish baths and a gymnasium on the
roof. The complex was served by approximately 900
employees, a 1,300-ton air conditioning plant, an auxil-
iary power plant, laundry kitchens, bakeshop, and an
employee cafeteria.
Above the pedestal, the tower was also spacious and
luxurious. The guest rooms, approximately 14'x l8',
were considered large, but the dressing rooms at 5 fi'x
I I' and equipped with refrigerators and builrin ironing
boards and furniture, were particularly generous; by
contrast, the bathrooms remained relatively modest.
Only the top three floors had balconies. at 7'wide; the
penthouse floor had three-room presidential suites at
l4'x 28'with similarly sized balconies. 5 Two-room
Govemors' Suites were on the top-floor corners.
Although Lapidus largely abandoned private balconies
and bris-soleil of a tropicalist approach in favor of
sealed ribbon windows for the other air conditioned
guest rooms, an environmental genesis cannot be ruled
out: the sweeping curve of the tower could alternately
be viewed as a pragmatic device, since it opened south-
east toward the trade winds. As the Miami Dailv New,s
noted, "nearly every modern device made of steel,
masonry, glass, plastic, aluminum, marble and textiles
has been introduced so guests may take better advan-
tage of South Florida's warrn sun and soft breezes." 6
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Top: Typical floor
Middle: Main Lobby
Bottom: Lower Lobby
Original Floorplans published in
lnteriors. May 1955, v. 114
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Beyond the main structure of the hotel a playground of amenities extended across the grounds
when the Firestone mansion was finally demolished in October 1954. Six acres of French
parterre gardens that emulated the pleasure palaces of the French kings at Fontainebleau and
Versailles, playgrounds, tennis courts, a putting green as well as the pool and cabana complex
ran from the hotel to the ocean. Built in a serpentine shape around the pool, and extending
almost the entire length of the site, were 250 cabana units in a three story structure; each 9'x
l5'room could be rented by guests during the day as a private dressing room, massage room
and bar. From the Garden Lobby of the hotel, guests could survey, the enormous 6,500 SF pool
with its "bevy of bathing beauties" skiing across it. 7 The southeast orientation of the main
tower was designed to admit sunshine to the gardens and cabana area all day. 8 Below the
ground level, an L-shaped double-decked parking facility offered storage for 500 cars; across
the street on Indian Creek, the hotel's private docks could accommodate 50 large crafts.
According to the Miami Herald, "Everything about the place is in the super-colossal category."g
The hotel deployed 25 acres of carpeting, 85,000 SF of glass and 2,000 mirrors. tmported statu-
ary marble fireplaces and lSth century pianos and glimmering crystal chandeliers graced the
lobby areas and dining rooms. l0 A famed Normandy statue from the sunken cruise ship guard-
ed the La Ronde foyer. The hotel's PBX switchboard had 45 operators, more than.nough to
handle 2,000 telephones, enough for a small-sized city. Its 847 staffmembers included u p.*u-
nent security force of l4 men. Eight kitchens, including a full butcher shop with l0 freezer-
lockers, were staffed by over 160 chefs and kitchen staff.
The Fontainebleau took tourists by storm, lured great perforners either as guests or headliners
at the supper club, flabbergasted architects and outraged critics. Once derisively termed ..the
nation's grossest national product," it was instantly the most colossal, the most opulent, the
most gaudy, the most outrageous and the most controversial of a generation of colossal, opu-
lent, gaudy, outrageous and controversial Miami Beach resort hotels. Some joked the hotel was
designed "to convince a sucker spending $50 that he's actually spending S 100." "A beautiful
place," cracked Jack Benny, "but they overdid things when they put a l0-piece orchestra in the
men's room." I I Novack wanted over-the-top glamour and fame to be flowing through his
hotel, yet he originally proposed that a vacation at the Fontainebleau would cost no more than
the rates at neighboring oceanfront hotels, l2 seemingly incongruous goals. When the
Fontainebleau opened, the price range of rooms was $37 to $200.
The Fontainebleau's dramatically curvaceous and amorphous spatial vocabulary a byproduct of
Lapidus'own experience in retail architecture, was one of the most important features of the
hotel. Lapidus always maintained that the Fontainebleau was curved "because of function - to
keep the lengthy hallways form seeming so long to the guests. ... The corridors are long, but
the guests never realize it. The curyes express what goes on inside the building - a Modem
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
concept." l3 The architect had discovered that if he curved the space with serpentine walls,
"people would meander to the far side: the waves pulled them like an undertow." 14 His convic-
tion was forged designing long, narrow stores in New York, where the architect had developed
tactics of drawing customers all the way through the store: "l hated boxes, so all of my stores
had sweeping curves and lines. I kept moving people - the space seems to go on and on." l5 As
Joseph Giovanni has noted, his "spatial maneuvers became a personal signature as well as an
emblem of the times. More important, he emerged as a behaviorist: there was psychology to
space." 16
He brought this mastery of movement to the hotel in its suite of public spaces built over the
ground-level shopping concourse that fused hotel design with new retailing trends, providing
countless opportunities for Lapidus to express his design mastery of commercial space. He
meshed theories of attraction based on poignant juxtapositions with a trademarked degree of
excess. As with the size of the hotel itself Lapidus sought to "overwhelm the visitor with color,
texfure, and opulence,lT eaming him a reputation as the epitome of excess, or even "the epito-
me of the &poges."lS Polly Redford remarkedin Biltion-Dollar Sandbar, "Never has so much
Gross National Product been assembled in one place." l9
The Fontainebleau's pedestal was also significant for its idiosyncratic form, open-plan configu-
ration and theatrical handling of the interiors, which blended historical and spatial exoticism.
An array of parlors lounges and theaters were legibly expressed on the building's exterior, not
just with plate glass but in dynamically juxtaposed volumes - a visual diagram of leisure cul-
ture. The spatial particularity of the major rooms, the amoeboid garden lobby, detached La
Ronde supper club, and pie shaped Fleur de Lis dining room, bring to mind the individualized
components of casinos found in Havana and some South American cities, perhaps anticipating a
nightlife and gaming culture that ultimately eluded Miami. The focal point of the public spaces
was the long curved lobby, a space whose size and multiple seating islands conveyed the logic
of a public concourse (an effect at one time augmented by escalators that fed guests to the shop-
ping level below). Lapidus'mastery at juxtaposing form with graphic sleight of hand was
nowhere more evident than at one end of the lobby, where a grand stair spiraled around a wall
surface emblazoned with an l8 foot high reproduction of Piranesi's 'vedute' of the Roman
Forum.
In fact, the lobby was, following traditional practice in Miami, a stage set for touristic spectacle
and glamour, rather than a built demonstration of distinctly modernist theories and practices.
Lapidus'experiments in architectural hybridity cultivated public space as a theater for acting
out a collective drama in which tourism was invested with spectacle, fashion was displayed and
consumed, and new contemporary identities found visual and spatial representation. His hotels,
rooted in a middle-class American thirst for the exotic, were "no place like home,"2O but rather
conceived as narrative productions that distilled and synthesized populist icons. Wielding sym-
bols of pleasure and exoticism, Lapidus created lavish, eclectic environments that multiplied the
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
opportunity to see and be seen. Multiple stages, proscenia and vast areas for observers were
choreographed features of the spatial flow, making the hotel, as Cook has noted, a "stage...set
for the splendid human act." 2l The result was a multicultural fantasy animated by interconti-
nental transience, the mid-20th century mode of Jldnerie.
As the comprehensive designer of the hotel, Lapidus learned to disassociate modern exteriors
from thematic, even period interiors. This disassociation allowed him to indulge a 'decorative
principle'that betrayed his beginnings as a delineator. The Fontainebleau's most controversial
aspect was its outrageously ersatz French Baroque style, which stocked modernist spaces with
period furnishings and imported artifacts. Similarly, for the Eden Roc Lapidus devised an
'ltalian Renaissance'theme. Lapidus attributed such hybrid excesses to his reading of client
desire, a tongue-in-cheek explanation that, although caricatured and unsatisfactory has never
been challenged. In fact, the creation of 'themed' environments corresponded to Lapidus'
underlying interests, both as an amateur anthropologist and choreographer of popular drama.
Had Lapidus ever finished his opus magnum, tentatively titled Man's Three Million Year
Odyssey, the intentions of his hybridizing style might have been clarified. 22 This anthropologi-
cal epic was to have begun with the geological foundations of the planet, and moved on to
cover human evolution and the history of art and culture. Although he never succeeded in con-
structing this exposition in literary form, Lapidus' hotels can be assembled and read as just such
a narrative. Together, they form an astonishing work of speculative cultural history using post-
war developments in tourism and consumption to advance a plot about hemispheric unity.
Manhattan's design establishment, championing a more restrictive notions of modemism, may
have condemned Lapidus' idiosyncratic Pan-American style to the sidelines of architectural his-
tory but as hybridity transforms American cities in our age of globalization, it should be appar-
ent that the cultural fantasies nurtured by postwar Miami endured and ultimately flourished.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
I A.thu. L. Himbert, "Gold Coast Rezoning." New york Times, January I I, 1953.
2 John T. Bills "Fontainebleau: Hotel Masterpiece, It will be Florida's Largest, Most Luxurious Hostelry by Fall.
The Miomi Herald, February 21,1954.
3 Uik" Capuzzo"'The Sand Castle: The Famed Fontainebleau. inspired by a French castle and a Miami Beach toi-
let seat. has seen - and barely survived - more than 10,000 nights," The Miami Herald, February 19, 19g4.
4 Frank Fox, "Doors Swing Open at Fontainebleau: Staffof 847 Needed Just to Run Largest Hotel Ever Built At
Beach," Miami Daily News, December 19, 1954.
5 John T. Bills "Fontainebleau: Hotel Masterpiece, tt will be Florida's Largest, Most Luxurious Hostelry by Fall.
The Miami Herald, February 21,1954.
6 Ibid. Fo*.
7 "Roughing it at Miami Beach," The Sarurclalt Evening posr, Februa ry 23, 1957, v. 229,pp. l9-21.
8 Iura. eittt.
9 Stephen J. Flynn, "Everything at Fontainebleau Hotel is Super-Colossal." The Miami Heralcl,December 19,
t954.
l0 Th"." is some uncertainty over the history of the lobby lighting fixtures and its original furnishings.
Photographs taken of the lobby interior three and six months after the hotel's opening (see Library oi Cong..r,
Cottscho-Schleisner Collection and "Fontainebleau, Miami's Hotel of the Year," lnteriors. May 1955, v. I 14, pp.
88-95.) show more modern fumiture and less ornate fixtures. Original watercolor renderings by Morris Lapidus
and photographs from Lapidus's autobiography (Too Much is Never Enough, Rizzoli, tOOO; dated 1954 show the
elaborate crystal chandeliers similar to the ones that currently occupy the lighting alcoves. This research implies
that a redecoration took place very shortly after the hotel opened in December 1954, but no other confirmation of
this process has yet been found.
I I Blumenthal, Ralph, "Miami Beach Fights to Regain Its Superstar Billing," New york Times, June 17, lg7g.
l2 tuio siur.
l3 "lnterview; Lapidus Cuts Loose," Architecture, February 1997.
l4 Giouanniri, Joseph, "Ahead of the Curves," New york Magazine,,'March 26,2001 .
l5 ruia.
l6 tuia.
l7 Alice Friedman, "The Luxury of Lapidus: Glamour, Class, and Architecture in Miami Beach, Harvard Design
Magazine, Summer 2000, p. 40.
l8 Gilb"tt Milstein, "Architect De Luxe of Miami Beach," The New York Times Magazine,Jan. 6, 1957, p. 26.
l9 tolly Redford, Bitlion-Dollar Sandbar: a biographl: of Miami Beach,New York: Dutton, 1970, p. 23g.
20 Mor.i, Lapidus, An Architecture of Joy, Miami: E.A. Seeman ,1979.2l John W. Cook, Architecture as Intentional Nonsense,Departmental Paper, (New Haven: yale University p.24.
22 Mo..i, Lapidus, Too Much is Never Enough,op. cit., p.291.
Historic Report, August 3l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Model, view frcm soufhwesf (1954)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner cottection
Model, view from west (1954)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-s chleisner coilection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Model, view from soufhwest (1954)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner collection
Model, view from soufhwest (1954)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Gottscho-schleisner cottection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Model, view from south (1954)
couftesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner coltection
Model, view from soufheasf (1954)
couftesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Model, view from northeast (1954)
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Goffscho-Sch leisner Coltection
Model, view frcm southeasf (1954)
Couftesy of the Library of Congress, Gotfscho-Schleisner Cottection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
#
"One of Lapidus' skefches for the Fontainebleau Hotel, 1952"
as published in Too Much is Never Enough. Lapidus'autobiography, (Rizzoli, 1gg6)
Watercolor rendeings of oiginal Fontainebleau gazebo
Courtesy of Bass Museum of Ad
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Watercolor renderings of original Fontainebteau lobby
Courtesy of Eass Museum of Art
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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"Lobby, Fontainebleau Hotet, 1 954"
as published in Too Much is Never Enough. Lapidus'autobiography, (Rizzoli, t9g6)
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Construction Site (1 95a)
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Ftorida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau under Construction
lmage couftesy of the Historical Museum of south Ftoida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Trailer hauling what was believed to be the largest girder built in Miamifor the
Fontai ne blea u construction
lmage courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Floida, Miami News Archives
Lobby Stair under Construction
lmage Couftesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontai nebleau Construction, showi ng Fi restone Man sion (1 gS4)
lmage courtesy of the Histoical Museum of south Floida, Miami News Archives
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage couftesy of the Histoical Museum of south Floida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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O
o
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage Couftesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida, Miami News Archives
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida, MiamiNews Archiyes
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
21
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida, Miami News Archives
.1'ri i-
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage Couftesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
22
23
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage courtesy of the Histoical Museum of south Floida, Miami News Archives
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage Couftesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida, Miami News Archives
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage couftesy of the Historical Museum of south Floida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
24
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
Demolition of Firestone Mansion
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftoida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
25
o
o
o
a
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
The Grand Ball (Opening, December 1954)
The Fontainebleau Hotel opened on December 2A,1954 with a 'Grand Ball,'a $50 per plate dinner dance to
benefit Mount Sinai and St. Francis hospitals. The Miami Heratd joked that the benefit also accrued to the
"local food merchants who will supply the I l0 pounds of caviar, 1,000 pounds of potatoes and 300 pounds of
fresh string beans to be consumed."l 175 waiters and 150 chefs and other kitchen help served 1,600 guests for
the dinner.2 A group of feature writers and columnists were flown down on a specially chartered plane to view
the facilities. "Patti Page sang the Fontainebleau Waltz, Liberace played an 1882 German Steinway Grand and
Eastern Airlines planes tipped their wings overhead."3 Groucho Marx famously annointed the hotel the Eighth
Wonder of the World. The Miami Daily News called the Fontainebleau the "newest jewel in Miami Beach's
glittering crown of 380 hotels.'4
In a ceremony that included Ben Novack, architect Morris Lapidus, Miami Beach Mayor Harold Shapiro,
Senator Hubert Pajot (Mayor of Fontainebleau, France), Guy de Schompre (representing the French
Government), and, strangely enough, Captain George Israel Salva and Doctor Leontra Jurdosa, both of
Nicaragua, the Mayor of Fontainebleau presented a plaque emblazoned with the crests of his city and of the
Fontainebleau Hotel. The hotel, of course, was nominally themed after the famous lgth-century chateau of
King Francis in eastern France, but the connection was thematic at best. Novack famously derided the name-
sake chateau: "lt's not fantastic enough!"s The plaque read "The City of Fontainebleau, France, extends every
good wish for a pleasant and healthy vacation to all guests of the Fontainebleau, Miami Beach. May the sun
warrn your days and the moon and stars bring happy evenings and may you return again and again to taste the
pleasures and elegant living at this most famous of all resorts." A pine tree from the Forest of Fontainebleau,
brought by Senator Pajot, was subsequently planted on the grounds of the hotel.6 The subsequent history of
this pine tree is not known.
The Fontainebleau was such a success that within months of its opening, talk of adding onto the hotel began.
The New York Times reported that plans were being drawn to add 250 rooms, at an expected cost of
$3,000,000, without using any more land by building thirteen floors above the dome-shaped night club.7
(Unfortunately no drawings have been found for this project.). In fact, only a modest addition to the swank
"Boom-Boom Room," additions to the pool deck and new terrace and private dining room were permitted on
August 10, 1956.
I Stephen J. Flynn, "Everything at Fontainebleau Hotel is Super-Colossal," i"ie lvliami Herald.December 19, 1954.
2 Fox, Frank, "Hotel opens in Gastronomic Blaze," Miami Daillt News, December 20, lg54
3 Vtik" Capuzzo,"The Sand Castle: The Famed Fontainebleau, inspired by a French castle and a Miami Beach toilet seat. has seen -and barely survived - more than 10,000 nights," The fuliami Herald, February 19, 19g4.
4 tbid, Fo*.
5 tuia, Capuzzo.
6 P."r, release from the tree-planting ceremony at the Fontainebleau Hotel, I l:00 am, December 20, 1954. From WTVJ News File.
courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida.
7 Hi*b.rt, Arthur L., "Expanding Miami: More Room for Visitors is being Made on Florida's Fabulous Gold Coast,,, New york
Times, Apil 10, 1955.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
26
".'"']r
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I
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
lnvitation to "Grand Bal de Fontainebteau," opening banquet for the Fontainebleau Hotel
to benefit Mt. Sinai and St. Francis Hosprfa/s.
Couftesy of the Histoical Museum of South Floida
27
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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O
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a
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]or,."ir*hl**l.:r::rhEat' la: ,f ta 'r:1 rr- )!.ir .',rt *
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Press release announcing presentation of plaque by Mayor of Fontainebteau, Ftance at
opening of Fontainebleau Hotel, December 1955.
Coufiesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftoida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
28
o
a
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
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o
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o
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o
o
O
o
o
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o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
Fontainebleau elevation from across lndian Creek (1gSS)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner collection
Porte Cochere & Main Entrance (1905)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congresg Goffscho-schleisner coilection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
29
riIIt*i
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o
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o
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a
o
o
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a
o
o
o
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
ds;lfiF+i "* ,.
Fountain at Main Entrance (1gSS)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-s chleisner cottection
ltlt
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Fountain along west side (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Gottscho-schleisner coilection
30
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o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Southem Edge of Chateau Buitding (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schteisner collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
;I,5-
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Tennis Courts (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress. Goffscho-schleisner coilection
31
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Exteior of Garden Lobby, view from Formal Gardens (1955)
lmage couftesy of the ubrary of congress. Goffscho-schleisner coilection
t m a s e c o u ft e s y
",, n :' ff ::; :i 3 :;i!::t :1,: : :lsch/eisner c o t t e c t i o n
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
32
tr#
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o
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o
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o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Erterior Garden Lobby and Night Ctub (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Gottscho-schleisner coltection
Pool & Cabana, View from Archway to Beach (1gSS)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner coltection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
:**r..q"*t*'tt!
33
o
o
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o
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o
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o
o
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o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Stalrs fo Garden Lobby, View from Lower Lobby (1955)
lmage Couftesy of the Library of Congress, Goffscho-schleisner Collection
Sfarrs fo Garden Lobby (1955)
lmage Couftesy of the Library of Congress, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
u
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
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o
o
a
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Normandy Figure, Fountain near Formal Gardens (1gSS)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress. Goftscho-schleisner cottection
Stairs fo Cabanas & Pool Deck (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schteisner coltection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
k
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35
o
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O
o
o
o
o
o
a
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Garden, View towards fountain (lgSS)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner coltection
1.+.t*4<fr,=gEEEE:j < =
Solaium (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner coilection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
36
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
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o
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o
o
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o
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o
o
a
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
View to Cabanas (1955)
lmage couftesy of the ubrcry of congress, Goffscho-schleisner cottection
Aerial View of Pool Deck and Gardens (1g55)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner cottection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 t, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
37
o
o
O
o
o
o
a
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
a
o
O
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
Garden Lobby (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner collection
Garden Lobby (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
38
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
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o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
Garden Lobby (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-sch leisner coltection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Garden Lobby (1955)
lmage Courtesy of the Library of Congresg Goftscho-Sc hleisner Cottection
39
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Main Lobby,looking nofth (1955)
lmage Courtesy of the Library of Congresg Goffscho-schleisner Cottection
(see footnote #10, page 11 on histoic interior)
rry-"*
lr
Main Lobby, looking nofth to La Ronde Club entrance(lgSS)
lmage courtesy of the ubnry of congress, Goffscho-sch leisner coilection
(see footnote #10, page 11 on historic inteior)
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
40
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
dip-**'-:
.* # € !-
a,.- t' +
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Main Lobby "Sfairs to Nowhere" (1gSS)
lmage couftesy of the ubrary of congress, Goffscho-sch leisner coltection
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Goftscho-sch leisner collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Main Lobby Sfairs (1955)
41
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
,
Main Lobby Stairs (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner coltection
Main Lobby Seafing Area (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goftscho-s chleisner collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
r
ITr
42
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
--.
Main Lobby Elevators (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner collection
Main Lobby, cashier's desk and retail shops (lgSS)
lmage courtesy of the ubrary of congress, Goffscho-s chleisner coltection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
t-
43
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Lower Lobby retail (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Libnry of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner coltection
Nat Koslov Jewetry Shop (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-Schleisner collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
44
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
a
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Entrance to La Ronde Ctub (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner collection
La Ronde Club (1955)
lmage couftesy of the ubrary of congress, Goffscho-s chleisner coilection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
45
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
<D
La Ronde Bar (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Goftscho-schleisner coltection
Card Room (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner coltection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
46
47
{t-:
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
Boom Boom Room (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner coilection
nra
Boom Boom Room (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-S chleisner coilection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
a
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Ballroom and Dining (Fleur de Lis) room combined (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner coilection
Ballroom (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner coltection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
48
49
o
o
o
o
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a
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o
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o
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o
o
o
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o
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Dining (Fleur de Lis) Room (1955)
lmage courlesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner collection
*
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
* =-,_r",{&*
Dining (Fleur de Lis) Room looking toward Battroom (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner coltection
o
O
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O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
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O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
Dining (Fleur de Lis) Room (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner cottection
Poodle Room (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Goftscho-schleisner coltection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
50
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
O
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
Chez Bon Bon coffee shop (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner cottection
Chez Bon Bon coffee shop (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Gottscho-schleisner cottection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31,2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
51
o
o
o
o
O
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
Louis XIV Dining Room (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goftscho-schleisner collection
Entrance to Ballroom (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Gottscho-schleisner collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
52
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
Music Room (1955)
lmage courtesy of the ubrary of congress, Goffscho-schleisner coltection
Music Room (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner cottection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
53
o
o
o
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O
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a
President's Suite (1 955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Gotfscho-schleisner cottection
Lustig Shop (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
il
o
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a
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o
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Bedroom'1452" (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress. Goffscho-schleisner coltection
Dressing Room (1955)
lmage couftesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schteisner coilection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
55
o
o
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o
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a
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Bedroom (1955)
lmage courtesy of the Library of congress, Goffscho-schleisner coilection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
56
I
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Perspective View of the Fontainebleau Hotet
Slide image courtesy of L- Wggins
Pofte-Cochere
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
ffilliiiiiitltltnlni
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56
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
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Lobby
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
Lobby Stair
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
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Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
57
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Fontainebleau Pool Deck and Cabanas
Slide image couftesy of L. Wiggins
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Fontainebleau Pool Deck
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Fontainebleau Pool Deck and Cabanas
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
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Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Perspective View of the Fontainebleau Hotel
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
59
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Perspective view from the Garden
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
. : '1:'i.!:
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Normandy Figure, Fountain near Formal Gardens
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
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60
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
ffiilii1ii:iiiiIi:i::::'.:::'"-i,iii!iiiifil{i
Formal Gardens
Slide image couftesy of L. Wiggins
Nightclub as seen from the Garden
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
ffi.q Y+'g
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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AerialView of Gardens
Slide image courtesy of L. Wiggins
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
62
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Postcard: America's Largest and Finest Resoft-Hotel
Published by Cufteichcolor (1955)
lmage Couftesy of the Histoical Museum of South Floida
Postcard: Air View of the Magnificent Fontainebleau
Published by Palm Color Card Co., lnc.
lmage Couftesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
63
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Postcard: Fountainebleau Hotel (postma*ed 1 g56)
Published by Colourpicture Publishers, INC
lmage Couftesy of ATS
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
.i.lt:rciir..
-
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Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Back of postcard above
64
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Postcard: Luxuious Fountainebleau Hotel (postmarked I 960)
Published by Curleichcolor
lmage Courtesy of ATS
:r
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
**d&ildih.r* -fi&i #lro-. ii.al.*. d.tCf
Back of postcard above
65
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Postca rd : M ag n ifi ce nt Fonta i ne bl e a u H otet
Published by Gulf Stream Card & Distibuting Co. (1955)
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Floida
kil r--f, fldt&
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Postcard: Pool and Cabanas at the Fabulous Fountainebteau Hotet
Published by Genuine Curteichcolor-Chicago
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
+:1, I3lfl'r .r Iriiia. ti .''i'i-r1. .:. --.j,
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
66
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Postcard: Pool and cabanas of the Fabutous Fontainebteau Hotel
Published by Natural Color publishers
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida
Postcard: The Largest Luxury Hotet in the World
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Floida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
67
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Postcard : Fabulous Fontainebleau Hotel
Published by Genuine Curteichcolor-Chicago
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Floida
Postcard: The Fabulous new Fontainebleau Hotel
Published by Floida Natural Cotor, lnc.
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida
F'ontainebleau Hotcl
Miarni Beach
Historic Report. August 31. 2005
,.\llan I'. Shulman Architect, P..{.
68
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Postca rd : Fonta i n e b lea u P ostca rd
Published by Valence Color Studios
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida
Postcard: America's Largest and Finest Resort-Hotel
Pu bl i sh ed by C u rteich color
lmage CourTesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
69
o
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Postcard : Fontainebleau postcard
Published by Tichnor Bros., lnc.
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum af South Floida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
70
O
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Expansion Northward: Fontainebleau vs. Eden Roc (t958-1961)
Novack's Fontainebleau was an original new landmark, but it was also the model for a new
generation of luxury resort hotels. The repeatability of the model became apparent almost
immediately, and directly next door, when "Lapidus was hired by Harry Mufson, Novack's ex-
partner, to create a hotel of equal glamour, if somewhat smaller, immediately to the north.
Mufson wanted glitz to out-glitz the Fontainebleau. ... and stylistic flourish was again part of
the formula. According to Lapidus, the ltalian Renaissance and Baroque were discussed, at
which point Mufson said: "I don't care if it's Baroque or Brooklyn, just get me plenty of glam-
our and make sure it screams luxury."l Of course, Lapidus'acceptance of this commission
ensured that Novack would never speak to him again.
Ben Novack later found a way to exact a type of revenge. tn 1959, he nearly doubled the hotel,
adding a major new ballroom, parking garage, and most famously, the 335 room Fontainebleau
Towers, on the North side of the existing structures. Facing Collins Avenue, an apparent loggia
architecturally rendered in concrete vaults and recessed walls punched with circular ocheese-
hole'windows fronted the massive ballroom and connected the new Fontainebleau Towers to
the original lobby. Designed by architect A. Herbert Mathes, it created a new landmark fagade
often mistaken for the work of Lapidus. More importantly, the new tower was the object and
subject of a massive controversy, as it seemed clearly engineered to cast shade on bathers at the
Eden Roc. It was, as Don Bedwell has noted, "The world's biggest spite fencs." 2
When plans for the tower addition were made public, the owners of the neighboring Eden Roc
protested to city authorities that the looming fourteen stories would shield their pool deck from
the afternoon sun, taking away the one of the resort's most valuable commodities. The city
council, to prevent such 'obstructive'construction in the future, passed an ordinance for new
buildings requiring a series of setbacks for each floor built over a specified height. Litigation in
circuit and appeals courts resulted. For residents here, the legal fight that held up construction
of the largest of the projects, the new wing for the Fontainebleau, was an engrossing one.3
Finally the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the city of Miami Beach may not legislate sun-
shine and shadow on oceanfront property.4
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
71
o
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O
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The Eden Rock & the Fontainebteau (pre-l959)
Published by The American News Co.
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Ftorida
AerialPhotograph looking Northeast, showing La Ronde and baltroom additions,
before North Tower, and Eden Roc Beyond (1g\g)
lmage Courtesy of the Florida photographic Collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
i
iifI
72
View of Fontainebleau North Wall
ATS 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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Aeial view of Eden Roc Topiary Room showing shadow cast by spite wall
ATS 2005
73
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Aeial View of Eden Roc Southem Cabanas and Poot
ATS 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
AeialView of Oceanfront Pool and Cabanas
ATS 2005
74
o
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o
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
To make way for the new ballroom and tower addition, approximately l6 cabanas on north side
of property were demolished in July 1958. The massive additions, were subsequently permitted
on July 31, 1958. The ballroom and convention facilities comprised 73,500 square feet (210'
front,4l6'depth,47'height) in one and two stories, depending upon the section of the plan. It
provided one floor and a mezzanine of public space and two parking levels for 273 cars. The
baroque interiors of the Ballroom and Grand Gallery were reportedly designed by Gerald Ward,
current president of the NSID Florida chapter.5 The tower atop these facilities was permitted as
a l4 story CBS building with 339 hotel rooms and 18 apartments. Its fooprint alone was
20,500 square feet and it required a variance (granted on July 23, 1959) to extend three building
wall projections six feet into the north 20 foot side yard setback along the north wall.
Activities at the expanded hotel, given its new large function rooms, required expanded parking
capacity. On May 9, 1960 the Zoning Board granted a variance for a three-level parking garage
on the southwest portion of property to extend within five feet of both Collins Avenue and 44S
Street. Other hotel amenities followed, including a bowling alley on first floor level of existing
cabanas (October 1961) and an ice skating rink (March 1962). An addition to the La Ronde
Supper Club on the southwest corner of the circular theater was permitted around the same
time, in October 1958, to provide added stage and backstage space for more ambitious perform-
ances. The cumulative effect of these additions was to ensure the Fontainebleau's virtr-ral
monopoly as the city's premier convention hotel while providing an ever increasing menu of
amenities for its resort and business clientele.
Expansion Southward
A decade later, Novack further expanded the Fontainebleau by purchasing the Sorrento Hotel,
its neighbor to the south. As part of the Sorrento's subsequent facelift and integration into the
Fontainebleau property, a variance was granted (May 12, 1969) for an addition to the northeast
portion of the Sorrento, extending to the southeast portion of the Fontainebleau proper[r, now
under one ownership, to a setback of 90 feet from the harbor line. The condition attached was
that construction had to commence within six months. The applicant additionally had to pro-
vide 208 parking spaces for the 138-unit increase. Presumably to make way for this expansion,
the south section of cabanas was permitted to be demolished on August 27, 1968. Judging from
historic photographs, a line of temporary cabanas was constructed on the beach, just southeast
of the pool deck. On May I l, 1970, the Fontainebleau requested another variance, this time to
construct a canopy for restaurant to be known as the "Gaslight Club."
I Wolf., Kevin. "Morris Lapidus," Metropolis,December 1995.
2 Don Bedwell, "Novack: I Wish Hotel Were 'Somewhere Else"' The Miami Herald,June 13, lg75???
3 "R.tu* of a Boom," New York Times, lune 7, 1959.
4 "Legislating the Sunshin e," Nev, York Times, May 10. 1959.
5 "Fo. the Miami Cadillac Trade," Interiors,May 1961, v.l20,pp. I l0-l13.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
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Postcard: Fontainebleau Postcard
Published by Tichnor Bros., lnc.
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida
Postcard: View from lndian Creek Waterway
Published by Florida Natural Color lnc.
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Postcard: Fabulous Hotels line Collins Avenue, Night View
Published by Gulfstream Card Co., tnc.
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida
Postcard: Air View of the Magnificent Fontainebleau
Published by Palm Color Card Co., lnc.
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report. August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Cabanas, Gardens, & Pool view from South
lmage Courtesy of the Florida Photographic Collection
Aerial Photograph looking Northwest (1 968)
lmage Courtesy of the Florida Photographic Cottection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Postcard: Aeial Perspective Rendeing including Nodh Tower &
Ballroom Addition (1969), Pubtished by Curteichcotor
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Florida
Postcard: Miami Beach Skyline at Night
Published by Curteichcolor
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
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View of North Tower & "Cheese Wall" with Eden Roc Beyond
lmage Couftesy of the Floida Photographic Collection
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Collins Avenue looking Soufh
View of Chateau & "Cheese Wall"
lmage courtesy of Elliot Erwitt, MagnumPhotos
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Postcard: Millionairc Yacht at the Fontainebleau Dock (postmarked 1972)
Published by Dukane Press
lmage Couftesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida
Fontainebleau llotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
The Fontainebleau as a Mid-Century Cultural lcon
From its opening day the Fontainebleau attracted a range of leisure-class tourists, from newly
wealthy Americans to rich South Americans. It also attracted the attentions of the press, and
celebrities. The hotel's register included the biggest names in show business, politics and popu-
lar culture, while performers like Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop, Dean Martin, Red Skelton and
Sammy Davis Jr. performed on the stage of the La Ronde Room.l Miss Universe was crowned
at the Fontainebleau, and in 1972 the Republican and Democratic conventions were both held
there. Along with the sparkle of gowned and jeweled guests often came rumors of questionable
financial dealings and the involvement with organized crime.
Publiciry good and bad, preceded the completion of the hotel. During construction, a bomb
went offand shattered a concrete pillar. Engineers rushed out at 3:00 am to prevent the collapse
of the entire structure. Lapidus later recalled: "A year later, the hotel was open and we were sit-
ting having dinner with a man - I won't tell you who or what he was - and I said your boys
weren't very smart. You should have bombed a central pillar in the lobby. It would have col-
lapsed the whole building. He said, Mr. Lapidus, our boys know our business very well. We
didn't want to collapse the hotel. We just wanted to send a message."2 One may only guess the
nature of the message.
People wanted to be part of this exciting building, and the Fontainebleau was often rumored to
be for sale, or sold. The first of these rumors surfaced in 1955, within ayear of its completion,
when it was reported that Conrad Hilton had offered $18 million.3 The Hilton would, eventual-
ly, manage the hotel, but only after the ousting of Ben Novack, who would operate the
Fontainebleau as a private fiefdom. Novack operated the hotel while making his home for over
20 years in the Governor's Suite. It boasted five bedrooms, a billiard room, full kitchen, dining
room, gold faucets and marble bathtubs.
Within the complex organization of the hotel's ownership, battles were sometimes raged over
control. In November 1957, a palace coup erupted into the public eye when Novack was briefly
deposed from the management of the hotel. The New York Times reported that the movement
against Ben Novack was led by Arnold Kirkeby, wealthy hotel chain owner, who like Novack
possessed 40 shares of the hotel (minority partners comprised the remaining20 shares). While
the rival stockholders were ousting Novack in a special meeting, the managing owner's attor-
neys were in Circuit Court filing a temporary injunction. Novack charged Kirkeby with .fraud'
in the suit, as Kirkeby apparently immediately sold his 40 shares back to the corporation for
$4,500,000.4
Over time, the frequency of certain guests returning to the fabled destination earned them per-
manent places at the hotel as well. Their rooms had acquired names, consecrated with brass
plaques: the Frank Sinatra Suite, the Bee Gees suite and the Burt Reynolds suite.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Political organizations too knew that the Fontainebleau was the place to stage a drama and get
aftention to their issue. When the AFL/CIO (the hotel employees union) chose the busy winier
season to renew its organizing campaign at oceanfront hotels, picketers took their place in front
of the Fontainebleau hotel early in the morning, just a few days before Christmas when holiday
vacationers were at their most active. Bert H. Ross, union vice president in charge of the
Greater Miami organizing campaign, said the hotel "had 'stalled'on a union request to discuss
recognition of the union as bargaining agent for hotel employees." Novack, of course, denied
the accusation.5
As Miami Beach's premier emblem, the Fontainebleau attracted the attention of political radi-
cals as well. On September 19, 1977, "A man with a heavy Spanish accent called The
Associated Press at l:50 A.M. identifying himself as a member of the Luis Boitel Commandos
and said: 'Listen carefully. We have planted bombs at several Miami Beach hotels. Unless our
demands are met, we will take further action. Freedom for all Cuban political prisoners!" Ten
minutes lateq nearly simultaneous explosions hit the pool area of the DuPontPlazain Miami
and outside the Fontainebleau Spa. There were no injuries.6
The Fontainebleau was such a landmark attraction in its own right that on Thanksgiving Day
1961, its management decided to close the grounds to the public. Until that time, it was one of
the last luxury resorts on Miami Beach to operate on the so-called 'European plan.'The closure
created a private resort club and spa. A hotel spokesman noted that "the clutter of tourists filling
the lobbies and grounds during the day and evening prevented the regular guests from enjoying
the hotel's facilities. Only guests and their invited friends now will be able to use those facili-
ties."7
The hotel's appearance in several movies and a television series makes it possibly the most
filmed building in history.8 Designed chaos arrived at the Fontainebleau Hotel with the filming
of "The Bellboy" (1960). The movie, starring Jerry Lewis as author, actor, producer and direc-
tor, was replete with his callisthenic antics, with Lewis acting out every possible scenario of
hotel service disaster. The exaggerated pantomime seems everything that is contrary to the lush,
sophisticated theater that is the Fontainebleau Hotel. The filming of the hotel created a stir
humorously covered by the New York Times. "To say that guests of the hotel, reputedly the
largest (and most expensive) resort hotel in the world, have been mildly horrified, would be a
gross under-statement. The sight of Mr. Lewis skating wildly out of control across glistening
marble floors, and the sudden emergence from elevators of thirty dogs of assorted breeds have
created the suspicion that the Fontainebleau is not what it used to be."9
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
ln Tony Rome (1967) and Lady in Cement (1968), the Fontainebleau co-stars with Frank
Sinatra as a Miami-based private eye in a role that framed the hotel in an increasingly degraded
and morally ambivalent social context. Vincent Canby of the New York Times called the film,
"such a perfect blending of material with milieu that the movie's extraordinary wlgarity and
sloppiness can almost be cherished for themselves, like wide-screen graffiti. ... Unlike .The
Detective,' an earlier collaboration of Mr. Sinatra, Gordon Douglas as director and Aaron
Rosenberg as producer, "Lady in Cement" turns its fakery and garishness into negative virtues
that can be appreciated, if not particularly admired. It is to well-planned movies what one of
those l0-year-old Miami Beach hotels - one that has begun to crack - is to the plaza - a
reminder of a fantastic, All-American lifestyle that is no less significant because it's not espe-
cially good."l0
James Bond's gaudy gallantry in "Goldfinger" (1968) also seamlessly matched an exotic film
persona with the movie set that is the Fontainebleau. Decades lateq in a Lapidus retrospective,
the film stirred the memory of Herbert Muschamp, who drew a visceral connection between
Goldfinger, the hotel and the cultural context they together represented: "The password is ...
swanky. ... The fleeting image is a tan young man in a white bathing suit plunging off the high
board, somersaulting out of the deep blue sky into the water of a sky blue pool. Cut to shot of
Sean Connery wearing a light blue terry cloth playsuit. Anyone else would look ridiculous in
such a get-up, but not James Bond. He looks ... swanky. Any piece of architecture would look
stupid if it were wearing staircases that went nowhere, ceilings with Swiss cheese holes in them
and an allegorical statue salvaged from the first-class dining saloon of the S.S. Normandie. But
somehow Morris Lapidus pulled it off. At the Fontainebleau Hotel, scene of the Miami shots in
"Goldfinger," Lapidus made Swiss cheese holes look . .. swanky. .. . The password was swanky
and swanky meant sex. ... In the 1960's, everyone I knew loved Lapidus, for the same reason
we loved "Goldfinger." Both carried the seal of parental disapproval. Like Miami Beach,
Lapidus stood for a certain idea of the exotic. Eroticism was part of it.l I
Although landing only a cameo role in "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), the Fontainebleau Hotel
holds a symbolic position. The movie's Bronx character, Ratzo Rizzo, slightly deformed and
limping with a club foot, dreams of escape from his unheated apartment in an abandoned build-
ing to a land of sun and sea. The Fontainebleau's beach and pool deck are the setting for his
montage dream sequence in which he becomes helper and hero to a squadron of wheelchair-
bound older ladies. [n this resort designed "to convince a sucker spending $50 that he's actually
spending $l00," even a near-homeless cripple can rise to the American Dream in luxury and
valor.
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
I "Nigfrt of Stars." New York ?'rrzes, November 6, 1960.
2 tt'tik. Capuzzo,"The Sand Castle: The Famed Fontainebleau, inspired by a French castle and a Miami Beach toi-
let seat, has seen - and barely survived - more than 10,000 nights," The Miami Herald, February 19, 1984.
3 Srrun M. Bumside, "Fontainebleau Sale Rumor is Denied," The Miami Herald,June 17, 197 l.
4 "Battle for Control of Hotel Continues," New York ?"irnes, November 22, 1957.
5 Diana Rice, "News Notes from the Field of Travel," New York Times,December 25. 1955.
6 "Around the Nation: 4 Miami Beach Hotels Are Damaged by Bombs, " New York lizres, Septe mber 20, 1977.
7 "Fro* the Field of Travel: Fontainebleau Hotel Set to Become a Private Resort and Spa," New york Times,
August 27,1961.
8 "the Bellboy" (1960). "Tony Rome - (1967),"Lady in Cement" (1968), "Goldfinger" (1968), "Midnight
Cowboy" ( 1969), "The Specialist" (1994).
9 Ju*., W. Merrick, "'Hurricane' Lewis Hits Florida Gold Coast." New, York Times, February 28, 1960.
l0 Vin""nt Canby, "Lady in Cement Here," New York ?.lrnes, November 21, 1968.
I I Herbert Muschamp, "Defining Beauty in Swanky American Terms," New york Times
Chef prepaing a dish of Shr'sh Kebabs (1959)
lmage Courtesy of the Floida Photographic Collection
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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"The good old days, with Sammy, Jayne, Dean and Frank.',
from "The Fountainebleau Fairy Tale: Once upon a time comes again,'
by Madeleine B/ais, The Miami Heratd, February 3, lggo
Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida, WWJ fites
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
86
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Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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O tnvitation and ptacecards for n*t,;::"l,it:i!Ei"r,rn president rohn F. Kennedy,
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Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Floida
87
,W* : fite*i# n / r/:#/'. //h, #d ?{r, rtt
et six pm.. Saturrday, the tenth of Mereh,
nlnetrcsrr hundred *nd sixty-two,
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Fontainebleau Iilotol
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John F. Kennedy & George Smafhers (1962)
lmage Couftesy of the Floida Photographic Collection
President Lyndon B. Johnson (1964)
lmage Courtesy of the Florida Photographic Collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Program from Florida's Presidential Dinner at the Fontainebteau Hotel
Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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THE TYHITE TIOUSE
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Program from Florida's Presidential Dinner at the Fontainebleau Hotet
Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Lyodoa B, ,Ioto;on
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Lobby sign advertising "Star Spangled Bang-Bang'adult show in the Boom Boom Room
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Ftoida
Poolside solree
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Ftoida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Meeting of the city of Miami Beach rourist Development Authority (1969)
lmage Courtesy of the Floida photographic Collection
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31,2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
.3'
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Ana Myers & Rabbi Leon Kronish (1970)
lmage Courtesy of the Floida Photographic Coltection
92
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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President Ford speaking at the Fontainebteau Hotel (1976)
lmage Courtesy of the Florida Photographic Coilection
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Fleur de Lis Room (1965)
lmage Courtesy of Stock Photo
Event at the Formal Gardens
lmage Courtesy of Stock Photo
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
94
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Republican Convention Delegates Watch an Anti-War protest
from Their Hotel Balcony (1972)
Created by Franklin McMahon, lmage Courtesy of Corbis
Delegates to the 1972 Democratic National Convention, Miami Beach,
Viewing the Fontainebteau Hotet (1972)
Created by Franklin McMahon, lmage Courtesy of Corbis
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Night view into North Tower (1965)
Courtesy of Stock photo
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Miami Beach Hotel Guide, cover & Fontainebleau tisting
Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
96
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La Ronde Supper Club matchbook Vintage
cigarctte lighter
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
H
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Fontai nebleau Mo mentos
lmage Courtesy of ebay
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Detailof dinner plate
Oiginal gold-trimmed Fontainebleau dinner
plateon ebay
Vintage ashtray
97
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Room service menu from May 1968
lmage Courtesy of ebay
UF
Fold-out brochure for Fontainebleau Cabana and yacht Club,
featuring Jerry Lewis, Liberace, Ritz Brothers and Betty Hutton.
lmage Couftesy of ebay
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Jerry Lewis (as Stanley), "The Bettboy" (1960)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
$
Jerry Lewis (as Stanley), "The Betlboy" (1960)
lmage Couftesy of Photofest, lnc.
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Jerry Lewis (as Stanley), "The Bellboy" (1960)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
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"The Bellboy" (1960)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
From the left: Alex Gerry @s manager), Jerry Lewis.(as Stanley)
100
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
,.*ryr ''**"*L#r*
Jerry Lewis.(as Stanley), "The Bellboy" (1960)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, tnc.
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Historic Report, August 31, 2005
AIIan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
101
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"Tony Rome" (1967)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Frank Sinatra (as Tony Rome), Jill St.John (as Ann Archer)
"Tony Rome" (1967)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Frank Sinatra (as Tony Rome), Jill St.John (as Ann Archer)
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Frank Sinatra (as Tony Rome), Jill St.John (as Ann Archer)
"Tony Rome" (1967)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
'I+aiil!'=b--=u ll--
Jill St. John (as Ann Arche), "Tony Rome" (1967)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
104
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Pool Deck of the Fontainebleau
Richard Conte (as Lt. Dave Santini), "Lady in Cement" (1965)
lmage Couftesy of Photofest, lnc.
Richard Conte (as Lt. Dave Santini)
"Lady in Cement" (1968)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Sean Connery @s James Bond), "Goldfingef' (1gOB)
lmage Couftesy of Photofest, lnc.
Sean Connery@s James Bond), "Goldfinger" (1968)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
106
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Gert Frobe (as Auric Goldfinger), "Gotdfingel' (1968)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Margaret Nolan (as Dink), Sean Connery @s James Bond), ,'Goldfinger,, (196g)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report. August 31. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
107
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sean connery @s James Bond, cic Linder (as Felix Leiter), "Goldfingef (196g)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31,2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Sean Connery @s James Bond), "Gotdfingef (196g)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
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Fontainebleau pool
Dustin Hoffman (as Ratzo Rizzo), "Midnight Cowboy,' (1969)
lmage Courtesy of Photofest, lnc.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Miami Herald Investigation (late 1960s)
In May 1967, The Miami Herald began calling witnesses for depositions, with the intention of
exposing a relationship between the Fontainebleau and organized crime. The Miami Beach
hotel reacted the following month by filing a $10 million libel suit against The Herald. claiming
the paper had been undertaking "burdensome and harassment tactics" and publishing "slanteci"
stories.l One target of The Herald's investigation was the opaque ownership structure of the
hotel, and the web of financial transactions that paralleled its construction and ongoing opera-
tion. For instance, in June 1967 The Herald deposed Ben B. Sigelbaum, a local 'investor', who
declined to say whether he had ever loaned money to the Fontainebleau or Ben Novack. i"fte
Herald focused on the connections between Sigelbaum (a former light bulb salesman), Las
Vegas gambler Ed Levinson (with whom Sigelbaum had many business interests, including part
ownership in the Singapore Hotel) and Jack B. Cooper (a major figure in Dominican Repubtic
gambling casinos before the assassination of dictator Raphael Trujillo). The Heralcl investigated
links berween this group and 'hoodlums'Isadore Blumenthal and his brother yiddy Bloom. The
wives of Blumenthal and Bloom purportedly owned title to a portion of the Fontainebleau land,
and a mortgage on the remaining land. Sigelbaum was also suspected of owning Fontainebleau
land, and receiving broker's fees for securing loans for the hotel.2
The Herald investigation also turned up numerous contacts with gambling figures. In June,
Miami Beach haberdasher Mickey Hayes, a friend of Novack, was subpoenaed by The Herald
and testified to meetings between Novack and London casino operator John Mills aboard
Novack's yacht, the Fontainebleau tI, which was touring the Mediterranean as a 'goodwill
cruise'during the summer of 1966.3 The Herald reported that Mills was Novack's purported
British subject partner in the Miami hotelier's unsuccessful attempt to purchase Cat Cay and its
Bahamian gambling permit. Parenthetically, the ship was quickly registered in the Bahamas by
the law firm of Bahamian gambling figure Sir Stafford Sands. The yacht, which was normally
parked in front of the Fontainebleau in Indian Creek, was detained in 1967 by the U.S. Customs
service for payment of an entry duty. [n papers filed in relationship to the duty, it was discov-
ered that the boat was owned by Argosy Ltd., a corporation whose stockholders were all
Bahamian attorneys in the Sands offrce. Sands had, the week before, liquidated all holdings and
established residence in Spain. His departure followed revelations, in a Royal Commission
investigation, that he received $2 million in legal and consulting fees in relation to casino oper-
ations after a gambling permit was granted for a casino in Freeport. Sands both spearheaded the
gambling license application and sat on the board that granted it.4
According to testimony by another Bahamian, George Thompson, Ben Novack's application for
a Bahamian gambling permit was held up by his lack of clearance to own a casino by the local
police, a result of "problems" with the American FBI. Novack was urged by Thompson to
"clear up his position with the FBI so that the [Bureau would] be" be in a position to give a
favorable report to the police here. Thompson testified that Peter Graham, cabinet minister in
the outgoing white Bahamian government and Novack's lawyer at one time, told him that "Mr.
Novack was a gangster." 5 However, Thompson also left the impression that Novack's competi-
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
110
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
tors in Grand Bahama Island may also have squelched the hotelier's bid, principally by award-
ing consulting fees to cabinet members opposed to granting Novack a license. 6
Facing a public relations debacle, on August l7th,1967, the Fontainebleau Hotel asked Circuit
Court to "stop 'harassment tactics' by The Miami Herald in the libel suit."7 Specifically, the
motion sought to stop The Herald from taking depositions and reporting on them. On August
l8th, lawyers for The Heralclsuccessfully argued that the newspaper's inquiry was "in good
faith and intended to gather information about the history of ownership and reputation of the
hotel." Circuit Court Judge Grady L. Crawford refused to halt or limit The Herald from taking
depositions in the libel suit.8 Ultimately, the Fontainebleau lawsuit backfired by providing a
rich mosaic of tantalizing information illustrating Ben Novack's questionable business practices
and his connections with the world of organized crime.
The Herald's depositions and reporting thus continued in September. On September 19, 1967,
the paper reported that five witnesses testified in the case, including Clarence Jones, co-author
of The Herald articles in question in the suit. Four others, including an ex-convict and a gam-
bling wire operator (who both plead the fifth), a hotel time-keeper and a restaurateur testified.g
Sam (Radio) Winer testified that he introduced Ben Novack to Bahamian politician George
Thompson. Thompson had previously testified in front of a Royal Commission investigating
gambling in the Bahamas that Novack had offered him $ 100,000 in 1965 to lobby for a
Bahamian gambling license. The license was denied by the later government of premier Lynden
Pindling.lo
The depositions soon turned from gambling to the relationship between hotel management and
organized crime. In his testimony, hotel General Manager Margulies refused to answer ques-
tions about whether he knew Max Eder (alias Maxie Raymond), who The Herald called a noto-
rious gambler and labor racketeer who made the Attorney General's list of notorious criminals
in 1959."11 The Miami Beach police had previously identified Eder as a 'behind-the-scenes'
figure in the Fontainebleau and the operator of its linen shop.
In fact, known bookmakers and gamblers were known to frequent the hotel. Testimony revealed
that according to the Florida Attorney General's offrce, 4441 Collins Avenue (The
Fontainebleau) was "becoming a hangout for hoodlums with a national reputation.l2 The testi-
mony of the night bell captain illustrated a telling event. The bell captain recounted a fight
between comedian Shecky Greene and Chicago Mafia figure Joe Fischetti in a public area of
the lobby. Greene was performing at the La Ronde Room during Frank Sinatra's engagement
there. Joe (Fish) Fischetti, cousin of Al Capone and brother of nvo deceased Chicago Mafia
leaders, was known to accompany Sinatra during his performances at the Fontainebleau. The
fight demonstrated the close relationship between the hotel's glamorous and seamy sides.
ln fact, Sinatra's relationship to the Fontainebleau came into question not in the investigations
of the late 1960s but a few years later. In 1972, convicted mob triggerman Joseph (the Baron)
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
111
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Barboza, told a congressional committee that Frank Sinatra fronted a part ownership in the
Fontainebleau Hotel for New England Mafia boss Raymond Patriarca. The charge was denied
by owner Ben Novack, who insisted vehemently that nobody "in the world has one dollar in
this hotel but me... I built this hotel with my sweat and blood."l3 Barboza noted that Frank
Sinatra also fronted Patriarca's ownership in the Sands Hotel in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. patriarca,
the Providence R.l. mob chief, was at that time in Federal prison for conspiracy to commit mur-
der.l4
ln 1976 Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy rejected repeated recommendations from his
department's Organized Crime Section for tax investigation of Frank Sinatra and his ties with
l5 Mafia leaders. Reports compiled sincel962 and 1963 by afforney Dougald McMillan out-
lined business and personal relationships between Mr. Sinatra and various leaders of the crime
world. One in particular, dated August 3, 1962, held information of Sinatra's investment in a
Lake Tahoe lodge and the implications that arose when "Mr. Giancana, who had been barred by
the Nevada Gaming Commission from gambling establishments in the state, was found staying
there." The same report showed Joseph Fischetti on the payroll of the Fontainebleau Hotel "at
the instance of Mr. Sinatra," and that as of April 1962 Mr. Fischetti had received 7l checks
totaling $38,340. The report added that Mr. Fischetti's income tax returns for 1959 and 1960
listed fees of $12,000 from the Fontainebleau as a 'talent agent."'The charges were never pur-
sued. According to some Justice officials, "there was a reluctance to pursue an extensive inves-
tigation because of Mr. Sinatra's close ties to the Kennedy family.',15
ln addition to implied Mafia connections, the Fontainebleau played a cameo role in high-level
political scandal. The Florida State Attorney in Miami investigated "the possibility that uniden-
tified persons tapped telephones and bugged hotel rooms there during the Democratic National
Convention in July, 1972, in Miami Beach." James W. McCord, found guilty in the Watergate
bugging of June, 1972, apparently told investigators last summer that he had been shown a
floor plan of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach with identifying marks on certain rooms.
McCord reportedly said that G. Gordon Liddy, also convicted in the Watergate case, had shown
him the plans."l6
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
112
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
I "Hotel Asks To Restrain The Herald," The Miami Herald,August 17, 1967.
2 "Fontainebleau Ties? NoAnswer," The Miami Herald,June 16, 1967.
3 "Novack's 'Coodwill Cruise' Covered in Trial Testimony," The Miami Herald, lune 22, 1967.
4 mia.
5 "Novack still seeks Casino, Probers Told," The Miami Herald,September l,1967.
6 tuia.
7 "Hot.l Asks To Restrain The Herald," The Miami Herald,August 17, 1967.
8 "Court Denies Hotel Plea in Libel Suit," The Miami Herald,August 18, 1967.
9 "Depositions Asked of Five Witnesses," The Miami Herald, September g,1967.
lo mia.
I I Henry Cavendish and William Tucker, "Fontainebleau Mum: Beach Hotel lncome Tax Under probe," The
Miami News,May 6, 1963.
12 Noted Tony Acardi, John Formosa, Sam Mooney Giancana, Maxie Eder, Munay 'the camel'Humphries were
reported to make the Fontainebleau their headquarters. "Depositions of 25 Taken In Fontainebleau Hotel Suite,"
The Miami Herald March 10, 1968.
13 Ct-k Hoyt, "UoU Rote Claimed in Fontainebl eau," The Miami Herald,May 25, 1972.
14 ruia.
l5 Gug", Nicholas, "Ex-Aides Say Justice Dept. Rejected a Sinatra Inquiry" New York Times, Apnl 14, 1976.
l6 "Flo.id, Aide Suspects Bugging at Hotel While Democrats Met," New York Times,October 5, 1973.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
113
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Economic Decline (1976 - 1977)
As the largest, most desirable, and most expensive resort destination in Miami Beach. the
Fontainebleau Hotel was at the leading edge of the evolving culture of tourism, as well as of
economic ffends. Its role as an economic engine for the city of Miami Beach led it to take an
active role in promoting economic development and steering governmental tourism develop-
ment efforts. Ben Novack became a consistent critic of the city and county, publicly excoriating
their focus and use of funds. The Fontainebleau Hotel acted as an industry or city unto itself.
Novack noted that the hotel spent $800,000 a year on advertising, more than the Miami Beach
Tourist Development Authority and not much less than the entire state.l Nevertheless, by the
early 1970's, the Fontainebleau (as well as the city of Miami Beach) was in a steep economic
decline. Ben Novack played an increasingly frontal role in urging the city to 'adapt'and exploit
new trends in tourism.
As early as in I961, Novack told a meeting of the Miami Beach Civic League gathered at the
Fontainebleau that the city had paid $250 million in property taxes to Dade County and had
gotten little in return. He preferred that Miami Beach secede from Dade County, tear down the
hotels on lower Collins Avenue and build at least 4 or 5 golf courses there with the money
saved. "We have too much cement and not enough grass," Novack declared. "Those hotels built
from l5th to 23rd Streets were like a woman with a gown and no wig. They had no setting. The
properry was sold by the inch and we wound up with a solid mass of concrete." He claimed this
crowding was a result of "greedy leadership." At the meeting, Novack was seconded by Beach
Councilman Bernie Frank, who declared that the State legislature would evenrually recognize
an independent Miami Beach county, especially if the city were to forgo representation in the
legislature and "not seek a cut of the horse track taxes."2
Despite the Fontainebleau's staggering $5.8 million gross income in 1964, the profits, it
claimed, were less than one per cent of that. The hotel took these figures before the Miami
Beach City Council to request a lower tax assessment than the initial S13.4 million, but the
request was denied.3 The Miami News noted that "between 1963 and 1968 hotel attorneys con-
test the properfy assessments ($16,975,200 in 1965) every year. In 1965, the suit said there has
been no change in the condition of the property since the1963 court decision."4
The Fontainebleau's weakening financial condition was exacerbated by Novack's ambitious
plans for expansion. Novack's 1970 purchase of the neighboring Sorrento Hotel, rebuilt with a
spa as the 'Fontainebleau South'added another 265 rooms. However, the hotelier's dream idea
of creating Miami Beach's dominant convention headquarters hotel in anticipation of a rise in
this market turned out to be a bad risk. In 1975, Novack complained: "This was once the great-
est resort area in the world and I've got $50 million tied up in it." 5 He attributed the hotels
financial problems to the $6 million debt he incurred in this southward expansion in anticipa-
tion of a business growth that never materialized. 6
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
114
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Beachside Cabanas (undated, ca. 1969, during Sorrento addition)
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida, Miami News Archives
Beachside Cabanas (undated, ca. 1969, during Sorrento addtion)
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Beachside Cabanas (undated, ca. 1969, duing Sorrento addtion)
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida, Miami News Archives
Beachside Cabanas (undated, ca. 196g, duing Sorrento addtion)
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida, Miami News Archives
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lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Floida, Miami news Archives
Beachside cabanas (undated, ca. 1969, duing sorrento addtion)
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Floida, Miami News Archives
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
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Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Miami Beach
Beachside Cabanas (undated, ca. 196g, duing Sorrento addtion)
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida, Miami News Archives
I I,l.ll f,rl'
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Beachside Cabanas (undated, ca. 1969, duing Sorrento addtion)
lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Florida, Miami News Archives
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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lmage Courtesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida, Miami News Archives
Novack's resources and dreams of growth were similarly squandered on land holdings in other
parts of Dade County as well. Novack planned to build a 600-room country club at
'Fontainebleau Park', or'Fontainebleau Estates,'a large parcel of land he purchased west of
Miami Intemational Airport. If the project had been fully built, it would have been not only a
diversification of the hotels services but also the first branding of Fontainebleau name.
However, financial difficulties hobbled the project. 7
Perennial reports of the hotel's imminent sale were always making news. tn 197[, it was report-
ed that Novack was in negotiations for sale of the Fontainebleau to San Francisco hotel mag-
nate Ben Swig, owner of the Fairmont Hotel. Although Swig confirmed the talks, Novack
ascribed the 'rumors'to his longtime competitoq Morris Lansburgh, whose Associated Hotels,
Inc. chain managed both the Eden Roc and Deauville hotels.8london-based J. Arthur Rank
Associates were rumored to have offered S50 million for the hotel. 9 Howeveq a key player in
plans to purchase or transform the Fontainebleau was Roland lnternational. Roland
International was controlled by Miami Beach investors Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins."l0
Novack's 440 acres of industrial property, the Fontainebleau Estates had in fact secured a 53.45
million loan to the hotel by Roland, a loan that secured that company's 1974 option to purchase
the Fontainebleau hotel.
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Roland soon announced its intention to start a vacation-lease-a-room plan at the Fontainebleau,
as had been successfully in operation in the Florida Keys, the Caribbean and Hawaii.ll In
February 1975, Novack acknowledged that Roland held an option but denied reports of an
impending closing for $30 million. If it had materialized, the price would have been a severe
discount from the $50 million that Rank purported offer.12 ln any case, Roland began selling 26
year leases on 800 of its 1,250 rooms. An early version of a time share, which the
Fontainebleau called 'Time Travel,'the leases would entitle their owners to occupy the same
room in the season of their choice. Prospective buyers were lured to the hotel where they were
given breakfasts, lunches or cocktails.l3 Roland estimated that Time Travel would "fill the
vacancy gap between the hotels convention business and the social business." $1,790 bought a
26 year lease on a bayview Statesman suite in May, June, September or October. l4 Time Travel
did not, however, offer ownership of actual property. It was a club membership, the right to
spend a week in the type of suite the buyer selected, one of dozens of identical rooms." Time-
travel soon became a prominent issue in the press, since it faced allegations of discrimination.
Many nationalities (purportedly those that did not allow citizens to take ample money out of
their countries), were excluded from being able to purchase.l5 The first hint of serious econom-
ic difficulties surfaced in 1976, when Roland International filed a suit against Novack and the
Hotel, claiming they were delinquent in repaying loans: According to The Miami Herald,
Roland "obtained a lien against the hotel when its investment in Novack's west Dade County
land deal went bad. However; in any case, the Roland suit was immediately explained by
Novack as an embarrassing mistake. The Roland suit was soon withdrawn and later negotiated.
Time Travel was one just example of trying to improve the waning profitability of the mam-
moth Fontainebleau resort complex. Legalizing gambling and Las Vegas-style entertainment
were a critical objective. Already the 1970's, the La Ronde Club was converted into a 'superstar
theater'where paying patrons can skip the drinks." l6 However, Novack believed that the
hotel's fundamental economies could no longer support the glamorous entertainment its patrons
expected. In 1975 he noted, "We have no profits to subsidize the big names like Vegas does."
"Every competing resort offers sun and beaches and palm trees - what tourists are looking for
is activity, and the strongest activity is gambling." l7 Angling for casinos, Novack estimated the
hotel was worth $90 million, "or $200 million in an area with casinos."18
Another indicator of the hotel's decline were rising tax troubles. On June 2, 1976, the Miami
Beach Council disclosed the hotel was behind nearly $1.3 million in property taxes. As the
Fontainebleau was the largest tax source to the City of Miami Beach, the tax problem caused a
major municipal funding shortfall that caused 82 employees to be laid off. Having just complet-
ed their new city hall, the city announced plans to planned to sell the old city hall to meet its
budget.19 In 1976, the New York Times reported that "Despite last year's brisk tourist season
.. . the Fontainebleau Hotel ... may have to be sold at a public auction"20if the bills weren't
paid by November l. Metropolitan Dade County initially tried to sell a tax certificate for the
Fontainebleau tax bills dating back to 1974, but there was no interest.2l However, about a week
after the tax disclosure, it was reported that a $1.27 million tax certificate owed by the hotel had
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been purchased on behalf of "unidentified investors."22 Afforney William Soman of the law
firm of Bruckner, Green and Mannas announced that he had purchased the certificate as a
trustee on behalf of several corporations and individual investors as both an investment and a
community service. Flagship National Bank of Miami, it was reported, was the largest single
investor.23 The Fontainebleau was now obtigated to these banks for the loan, plus interest of I g
per cent ayear.lf not paid, the hotel could be sold at public auction.24
During the next two years, Novack was repeatedly engaged in efforts to raise money for the
floundering Fontainebleau. In September 1976, Novack announced a $29.3 million loan that
would be used to financially reorganize, renovate and expand the hotel. The l5-year loan com-
mitment was by the Euro-Afro-Asiatic Trust, a Lichtenstein investment group tied to the
Martini Foundation. The Martini Foundation was an offshoot of Martini and Rossi, the wine
house. The president of Euro Trust was Prince Constantin of Liechenstein, brother of the ruling
lead of the principality. According to The Miami Herald, Novack would retain operational con-
trol, and would use the money to pay off$18 million in existing mortgage debt, the $1.3 mil-
lion tax burden, refurbish the hotel, add tennis courts and acquire 324 acres in Fontainebleau
Park, on Flagler Street in West Dade (for the purpose of offering golf to its guests).25 It became
clear in November that the loan would come attached to a ffansfer of ownership from Novack
and his purported partners to Fontainebleau Hotels International Ltd, a company controlled by
the Licthenstein investors and whose majority stockholder was Andrew L. D'Amato, a mort-
gage banker from Woodbridge, Connecticut. D'Amato and partner Vincent DiPentima were rep-
resented in the negotiations by Carl R. Ajello Jr., the Attorney General of Connecticut, whose
private law firm handled the transaction.26 The Herald reported that the new corporation took
control on November l, with Novack as a minority partner. All employees were required to fill
out new employment applications and were told that their union no longer had a contract with
the hotel, although, this was refuted by Herbert (Pinky) Schiffrnan, president of the Hotel
Employees Union, who announced he had reached an agreement with the new owners.27
On November 14th 1976, The Heraldreported that the deal with Euro-Afro-Asian was probably
in ffouble, as Novack had returned to Miami Beach without completing the loan. The Herald
began to investigate the deal, revealing the fact that D'Amato was under Federal investigation
and that his home had been recently foreclosed. Euro-Afro-Asian Trust, it tumed out, was also
in negotiations on a loan to construct a new Hyatt Regency Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.28
Meanwhile, in mid-November, a foreclosure suit on the first mortgage of the Fontainebleau,
held by Connecticut General Life Insurance Co., was filed and then quickly dismissed when
Novack paid $250,000 in back payments. However, the suit revealed that in addition to the
hotel's local tax problem, the Fontainebleau owed more than $1 million in federal income taxes.
According to The Miami Herald, insiders speculated that the foreclosure suit was settled so
quickly with cash so as not to encumber the planned purchase of the hotel by Euro-Afro-Asian
Trust.29
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Miami Beach
Meanwhile, The Herald reported that Florida banks were being approached to provide 'wrap-
around' financing for the Euro-Afro-Asian Trust purchase.30Yet, in January 1977, Roland
lnternational Corp. again filed suit to retrieve its S4.3 million in unpaid loans made to develop
Fontainebleau Park, west of the airport. According to attorney Aaron Podhurst, who represented
Roland, interest was accumulating at a rate of $ I,500 a day. In the Roland suit, it was further
revealed that the hotel owed additional back property taxes, an issue that became political in the
wake of painful belt-tightening and layoffs at the city. According to The Miami Herald, the pos-
sibility of a loan from Euro-Afro-Asian Trust was increasingly remote.3l
The Roland suit was purportedly resolved when Novack agreed to allow Podhurst to monitor
the hotel's books. But the Fontainebleau was informally placed in court-ordered receivership in
January 1977, a move formalized by court order on March l4th. Novack was accordingly
removed from control of the hotel. His problems worsened in late March when Connecticut
General Life Insurance Co. again filed suit for payment of the hotel's $12.2 million first mort-
gage. The suit revealed that the hotel had been operated since January by attorney Howard R.
Scharlin (for Roland) and Richard Marx (for Novack). The co-receivership had been kept secret
for publicity purposes.32 The federal receivers had laid off 77 employees and tightened business
practices at the Fontainebleau, and the hotel reportedly made a profit of $212,900 in a two-
week period."
On Thursday, April 14, 1977 Novack filed to place the Fontainebleau in bankruptcy. This
allowed him to reclaim management of the hotel.33 In an attempt to rescue his 20-year old proj-
ect from financial ruin, Novack was forced to consider desperate measures, including the bring-
ing on of new partners. According to The Miami Herald, outside investors, including South
African hotel owners, were reported to be on the "verge of a financial rescue mission at several
points during Novack's recent problems."34 As many as l8 different investors were prepared to
form a limited partnership to pay off various mortgages and creditors. The plan for this transac-
tion included Ben Novack as the only limited partner with 34 per cent ownership, and an
unidentified general partner. The mystery partner according to the Dail.v- Sun Reporter, was
South African hotelman Sol Kirschner.35
In another last ditch effort, Novack was reported to have turned to organized crime figures. The
Miami Herald reported that "a director of the business-like Black Tuna drug smuggling gang
attempted to rescue the financially-floundering Fontainebleau Hotel for owner Ben Novack in
1977. Novack in tum appeared as a character witness for two of the gang directors in a North
Carolina Court after they were convicted on drug charges."36 The deal, however, was apparent-
ly unsuccessful. Novack filed for personal bankruptcy Tuesday, May 3, 1977 as part of what
The Miami Herald called his "strategy to buy time in his race against his creditors."37 On
Tuesday, June 28, 1977 Novack finally surrendered control of the Fontainebleau.
I Don Bedwell. "Novack: I Wish Hotel Were'somewhere Else"' The Miami Herald.June 13, 1975.
2 "L.t', Secede and Putt - - Novack," The Miami Herald (?). January 26.1961.
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Miami Beach
3 strurtAuerbach, "s5.8 Million Income, But ... Fontainebleau Nets s51,900," The Miami Herald.July 15. 1g65.
4 Mo.ton Lucoff, "Court Backs Metro vs. Hotel," The MiamiiVe,s, July 31, 196g.
5 tuia, Bedwell.
6 Rob".to Fabricio, "Fontainebleau Tax Bill Bought," The Miami Herald,June 12. 1976.
7 tuio, Bedwell.
8 Surun M. Bumside. "Fontainebleau Sale Rumor is Denied." The Miami Herald.June 17. 197 l.
9 "Hotel is Not Soid, Owner Novack Says." source unknown - liom clipping files at Historical Museum of South
Florida, February 4, 197 5.
l0 Markowitz, Arnold, "New Fontainebleau Owners Begin the 'Renaissance'." The Miami Herald,March 15,
1978.
ll DarrellEiland, "Lease Plan Eyed for Fontainebleau," The Miami Herald,September 10, 1974.l2 tUia, "Hotel is Not Sold, Owner Novack Says."
l3 Cathy Lynn Grossman, "Fontainebleau Offers Space Oddity ," The Miami Herald,July 21, 1975.l4 ruia.
l5 tuia.
l6 mia. Bedwell.
l7 ruia.
l8 tbia.
l9 su, Jacobs, "Fontainebleau owes 2 years Tax," The Miami Herald,June 6, 1976.
20 "Fontainebleau Hotel owes s I.3 Million Tax," New york rimes. lune 7, 1976.2l ttia, Jacobs.
22 rcia, Fabricio.
23 rbia.
24 Jacobs, Sam' "Plan Proposes Bankers Pay Taxes: Fontainebleau May Get Aid," The Miami Herald.June 10,
t9'76.
25 Jun" Scholz, "Fontainebleau Gets S29-Million Loan," The Miami Herald,September 17,1976.
26 Ju.., Savage and Sandy Flickner, "Decision is Expected This Week on Fontainebleau Ownersh ip,,, The MiamiHerald, November 9, 197 6.
27 Louise Montgomery "Novack Apparently Yields Control of Fontaineb leau," The Miami Herald,November g,
1976.
28 Ju-.. Savage, "Funding Eludes Fontainebleau: Novack Talks to Investors," The Miami Herald,November 14,
t976.
29 Ju.", Savage, "Fontainebleau Foreclosure Dismissed: More Than Sl Million Still Owed in U.S. Taxes,,, TheMiami Herald, November 17, 1976.
30 Ju*", Savage, "Novack Gets Foreclosure Suit Notice," The Miami Herald,January g, 1977.3l J"*", Savage and Roberto Fabricio, "Fontainebleau Owes 5250,000 in Back Taxes," The Miami Herald,
January 29,1977.
32Ju*.rSavage,"FirmSuesForSl2Million;LawyersRunFontainebleau," TheMiamiHerald,March 31,1977.
33 suuug., James, "Novack: Hotel's Bankrupt," The Miami Herald,April lg, 1977.
34 Riordan. Patrick, "Fontainebleau Shows Profit, Receiver Says," The Miami Herald,April 30, 1977.
35 "Fontainebleau will be sold under terms of plan to court by Novack," Dail1, guy Reporter, June 29, 1977.
36 Crankshaw, Joe and Al Messerschmidt, "Drug Gang Tried to Aid Troubled Fontaineb leau,,, The Miami Herqlcl,May 3,1979.
37 Patrick Riordan. "Fontainebleau's Novack Files for Bankruptcy," The Miami Herald, May 4. 1977.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
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Miami Beach
Competing to Purchase the Fontainebleau Hotel (1977 - l97S)
In late 1977, several groups competed to buy the bankrupt Fontainebleau. By November 1977,
two bids had been offered. The first was by Hotelerama Inc., a group that included Roland
International Corp. and Stephen Muss, a Miami Beach apartment house developer. They offered
$4 million above mortgage debt, about S21.3 million. The second bid was by Oppenheimer
Properties Inc., which bid around $4.25 million over mortgage, or 521.5 million. The
Oppenheimer bid had a later closing date that would have left the hotel in bankruptcy for a
longer period.l
A bidding war ensued, and the purchase price quickly escalated. Abraham-Claxton, a group of
l3 Amway cleaning products distributors, joined the competition and offered $28.73 million,
$ I 1.5 million over mortgage costs. Oppenheimer's offer bumped up to $26.29 million.
Hotelerama, now with Stephen Muss at 75 per cent ownership (after buying out Helmsley),
offered fwo increased bids, at $25.8 and $26.8 million, each with different terms. The possible
deal clincher was the third mortgage held by Roland lnternational, which still held a 25 per cent
with Hotelerama. Because they were a creditor with a claim to the hotel, they had the power to
drag the claim through tiresome litigation if the hotel were sold to another bidder.2 On
December 2, 1977, Stephen Muss and Roland International Corp. won court approval to buy the
bankrupt Fontainebleau Hotel for $26 to $28 million. The exact figure was to be determined by
future court rulings. 3
On January 6, 1978, The New York Times reported that: "The bankruptcy sale of the
Fontainebleau Hotel will become final Monday unless Ben Novack, the owner, finds a new
delaying tactic. "Mr. Novack missed another deadline yesterday in his quest to stall the bank-
ruptcy court order to sell the hotel. He had until then to post $10 million cash bond with the
court to stop the sale pending his appeal."4 The sale to Hotelrama became final.
For many business leaders in Miami Beach the demise of the Fontainebleau was more than an
individual business failure. It was the emblem of a resort in decline. Hotels like the
Fontainebleau were crippled by beach erosion, exceptionally cold weather, and an economic
slump felt throughout Miami Beach. In a desperate search for a safety net, many businessmen
and hotel operators looked toward legalized gambling as the solution for local troubles in
tourism. "Casino gambling is seen as the key to economic prosperity for Miami Beach, but
there is concern in Miami and the rest of Dade County that gambling would hurt the local econ-
omy by drawing off money from working people already struggling to meet the high cost of liv-
ing."s Yet, legalized gambling was defeated in the polls in November 1977. The New york
Times noted that despite the defeat of legalized gambling at the polls in November, "casinos are
still a lively subject of debate among the diehards who have long considered them a panacea for
all the ills associated with Miami Beach, including its growing reputation as being more of an
old folks'home than a swinging resort."6Ralph Blumenthal, analyzing the Fontainebleau's fail-
ure, found fundamental reasons for the decline, but also the signs of a nascent new market:
"Cheaper air fares and a shift in vacation-taking patterns that favored Western ski resorts and
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
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Miami Beach
the more exotic destinations of the Caribbean; severe competition from Disney World in
Orlando, 200 miles north; the skyrocketing costs of keeping up large hotels and entertainment.
When the recession and Arab oil embargo hit in late 1974, Miami Beach suffered its worst sea-
son in decades. It never quite recovered, although foreigners have been arriving in increasing
numbers."T New air routes between Miami and London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, as well as
the strength of their culrency against the declining dollar were helping to develop this new mar-
ket.8
The Federal Government soon committed $60 million to a dredging operation to restore l0
miles of oceanfront." In pursuit of a renaissance of resort culture in Miami Beach, local busi-
ness leaders hoped for further federal support. According to the New York Times, they claimed
that $100 million in loan guarantees from Federal agencies would help refurbish the resort
hotels, benefiting the entire area."9
I Putti"k Riordan, "Court Will Hear Proposals For Fontainebleau Purcha se." The Miami Herald,November 22,
1977. (This article also reported that the partnership included New York real estate investor Herry Helmsley with
50 per cent interest. Apparently this venture was originally discussed but never formalized.)
2 Putti.k Riordan, "s28.TS Million Tops Bids For Fontainebleau Hotel," The Miami Herald,November 30, 1977 .
3 Patrick Riordan, "Fontainebleau Sold to Developer, Creditor," The Miami Herald.December 3,1977.
4 "Bu.tkrupt.y Sale Near For the Fontaineblea u," New York Times," January 6, 197g.
5 Jon Nordheimer, "Miami Beach. Seeking Comeback. Weighs Casino Gambling," New York 7.irzes, December l.
1977.
6 Murilyn Alva, "what's Doing in Greater Miami." New, york rimes, lanuary 2g, 1979.
7 Rulph Blumenthal, "Miami Beach Fights to Regain lts Superstar Billing," New York Times, June 17,lg:lg.
8 Ibid Rlru.
9 lbid Nordheimer.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Purchase and Resurrection
The once proud and glamorous Fontainebleau Hotel, a carved and terraced monument to the
American dream vacation, had to fight to regain its prestige after its bankruptcy and sale to new
owners in early 1978. After navigating the labyrinthine matrix of negotiations, Stephen Muss
and his Hotelerama Corporation finalized the purchase of the Fontainebleau in 1978, signed a
Z0-year management agreement with Hilton and put $45 million in improvements into the
hotel. He replaced the Louis XIV look with tropically inspired contemporary fumishings,
including an $8.5 million pool that had eight palm trees and an artificial mountain in the center.
Harold Gardner, the hotel's public relations representative, declared "the renaissance of the
Fontainebleau" in hopes of reversing its declining reputation with tourists and the travel indus-
tryl as occupancy slumped to30o/o in 1978.2
ln his plan for the rebirth of the Fontainebleau, Muss took a firm stance against long-discussed
proposals to legalize gambling, even though the hotel would have profited considerably. "l
would not like to see my kids grow up in a city based on gambling," he said, insistent that there
were other ways to revive the sag in tourism. He was also firmly opposed to the tactic of
attempting to keep guests within the hotel for all their dining and entertainment needs (the so-
called 'American Plan') for fear of losing those additional tourist dollars to other businesses.
Muss noted that one of Novack's critical mistakes was "his insistence on running the
Fontainebleau as a self-supporting empire apart from the rest of Miami Beach. Novack 'thought
that the world began and ended within the four walls of the Fontainebleau,'Muss said, adding
that the new Fontainebleau will have bilingual employees handing out cards steering tourists to
other good restaurants throughout Dade County."3 Already in action on this plan, Muss was in
communication with airlines, local restaurants and regional attractions to partner up in serving
furure guests. Unlike Novack's practice of trying to personally run hotel operations, Muss
intended to "use modern management techniques implemented by nationally known hotel man-
agement teams. 4 The new owner's other roles in the community, as a prominent real estate
owner in Miami Beach, as leader of the city's redevelopment agency, and as a major contributor
to local political campaigns made Muss a well grounded and thus promising new head of the
legendary Fontainebleau.
A "Destruction Party," heralding a new age for the iconic hotel, kicked off with the wrecking of
the 3-story cabana building that The Miami Herald declared, had been blocking the view of the
ocean from the hotel.5 In place of the old pool and cabanas was built an impressive 334,500-
gallon, half-acre "swimming lagoon," with waterfalls, a grotto bar, a man-made rock mountain
with water slide, and more than a dozen live parrots and cockatoos.6 To support this new guest
play area, alterations were made to an oceanfront longhouse and snack bar in the following sea-
son (permitted January 29, 1979). An application was filed for zoning variances to build a
3'level parking garage (at the time prohibited under zoning) with current setbacks. The Miami
Herald joked that when Stephen Mess combined "Lapidus schlock with modern hotel interiors
and ripped out the original cabanas, people declared'the end of an era.'...Of course, back in
'54, mourning the demise of the Firestone mansion, people said that, too."7
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
A 1980 retrospective of the Fontainebleau Hotel published in The Miami Herald upon comple-
tion of its Muss- inspired facelift was one of the first to frame the hotel in a historical context."It is tempting to describe it in metaphor, to say it is like a painted harlot, gaudy in youth,
repulsive with age, less horrid after some of the paint has been removed. It is tempting but
wrong, for this place functions as metaphor. tt is the symbol. Its history is our history both
local and larger than that. It is the history of our expectation? How they have failed, how they
have changed."S The re-examination of the Fontainebleau not only as a hotel, but as an
American Icon had begun.
In 1982 some repackaging of the public spaces was undertaken. The area that had been offices
near the front entrance of the hotel was converted to a jewelry store, and the famous La Ronde
Room was refurbished in an attempt to reinvigorate the performers and clientele drawn to the
legendary hotspot of entertainment. The hotel even attempted to re-create "the nightclub
ambiance of 1943 - when everybody who was anybody wintered thereabouts - in its La Ronde
Room." In 1982, after being redesigned by former resident showgirl Lynn Wilson, the theater
staged "Stompin'at the La Ronde,'a three-hour nightly entertainment that resurrected themes
of the "old Florida nightclubs right down to conga lines, big band radio shows, dime-a-dance
girls and drinks - Singapore slings, Cuba libres and zombies. Snacks will be available too, but
they will be more along the lines of current favorites such as quiche, since researchers deter-
mined that wartime food was 'boring and bland."'9 The club re-opened with the slogan: ..The
Stars Are Shining at La Ronde".
A more ambitious project to add a larger night club and restaurant on the northeast corner of the
property was also initiated. On July 6,1984,Arc-Tech Associates, the Fontainebleau's architec-
tural firm since its change of ownership (succeeding Morris Lapidus and A. Herbert Mathes
respectively), submitted a request to waive setbacks all around the site to accommodate this
new structure, as well as the added parking spaces require to operate a 424-seat establishment.
The attempt was blocked by the parking issue, on which the Ciry of Miami Beach refused to
grant leeway. No records exist to indicate that the project was further pursued.
Conflict arose in the summer of 1983 when the Fontainebleau was given permission to rent 375
public parking spaces at the City's park and parking lot North of the Eden Roc, 93o/o ofthe only
lot within many blocks, for its guests over the 4th of July weekend. City managers and commis-
sioners defended the arrangement, offering that it onty helped to boost tourism and the local
economy. However, the Mayor's office and the press were reported to be astounded and
enraged. The Miami Herqld called it a prime example of big business versus community.l0
In 1984, the Fontainebleau celebrated its 30th birthday with an intimate party that, as in 1954,
headlined the mayor of Fontainebleau (France). The new mayor, Paul Seramy, was to bring a
new brass plaque to mount next to the one his processor had taid in 1954. The hotel gave quiet
honor to a French pastry chef, coffee shop waitress, hostess, waiter, bell captain, secretary and
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
clerk had been were with the hotel for 30 years. Mike Capuzzo, writing for The Herald, attrib-
uted transcendent nobility to the hotel. "Miami Beach's crown has tumbled, but the
Fontainebleau remains its jewel, a successful Hilton, home to celebrities, marble museum of the
grand past."ll Also in 1984 the hotel got city approval from the Zoning Board of Adjustment
for an expanded convention facility and 20 new meeting rooms. The ambitious $ l5 miltion
project was undertaken to compete with hotels in other major cities that were attracting bigger
conventions than the Fontainebleau could accommodate. Since its construction, the
Fontainebleau had functioned as a secondary convention facility to the main facility provided
by the city of Miami Beach. The plans, which were unanimously approved, required variances
because the proposed ballroom was not within the city-mandated oceanfront setbacks. [t was a
risky bet, and an investment that displayed confidence in Miami Beach's ability to pull itself
back up from its tourism slump.12
ln 1985, the blank south wall of the Fontainebleau Hilton Beach Club along Collins Avenue
was transformed by artist Richard Haas into another stage set befitting the drama of the hotel
itself. Steve Muss first discussed the mural project with Haas around 1982. The artist comment-
ed, "When I saw the site, I thought I could play off the building and still be deferential to it."
The painting created the illusion of looking through an Art Deco triumphal archway with the
pool grotto and sweep of the Chateau building beyond, "its crisp white set offagainst a
turquoise pool and powder blue sky. And it is deferential, in that the hotel, as depicted, looks
very glamorous. But it is also a bit satirical, an ironic treatment of a very big, very blank wall
that oncoming drivers have to look at for blocks."l3The mural "splendidly solved a curious
problem of urban design. The Fontainebleau, for years dismissed as vulgar, was nevertheless
one of Miami Beach's cherished architectural icons. Yet it was invisible from the south, blocked
by the blank side wall of a building awkwardly placed at just the point at which Collins
Avenue, Miami Beach's spinal main street, bends. Mr. Haas, who gives us his permission to call
him both "environmental artist" and "decorator," framed an artificial vista that led right to the
heart of the Fontainebleau. As New York Times architectural critic Paul Goldberger noted, "the
admired building is celebrated and the offending one put in its place, both in a single, artful
gesfure."l4
In an interview with Architectural Digest, Haas stated his hope "that this section of Collins
Avenue becomes something of a fypical, Deco Champs-Elysees in scale and feeling. ... Some
have called what I do urban surgery - radical urban surgery. But it's more like mending." Digest
commented that "his reinventions come out of an analysis of the city stnrcture and what is miss-
ing form it - namely, city as fantasy or, as he puts it, 'city as plausible fantasy."l5
In the late 1980s, few renovations were initiated, and the ones that were mainly small and locat-
ed on the north section of the property. On May 19, 1987 a Certificate of Occupancy was issued
for an upper parking level, as well as for a kosher kitchen, meeting rooms, ballrooms, and
promenade on the 4th floor of the north tower. The following year brought new meeting rooms
and a ballroom expansion, designed by Arc-Tech Associates.
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Postcard: Mural on South wall of the Fontainebteau Hotel (1gg\)
Published by Scenic Ftoida Dist.
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Ftorida
:l
i-l-r
Fontainebleau Hotel Mural Screenprint
Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach FL (Architectural Facades portfolio), 19Bg
Screenprint 29.5" x 42", Edition of 100, publisher: Brooke Alexander
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
ff
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Fontainebleau wall Before Mural
Photograph courtesy of the Richard Hass Cotlection, Publisher: Brooke Alexander
Fontainebleau wall After Mural
Photograph courtesy of the Richard Hass Cottection, Publisher: Brooke Alexander
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Postcard: Looking North on Floida's Gold coast at the Fontainbleau
Published by Gulfstream Card Co., lnc.
lmage Courtesy of the Histoical Museum of South Floida
Fontainebleau Pool wrth Waterfall
Published by Gulfstream Card Co., lnc.
lmage Couftesy of the Histoical Museum of South Ftorida
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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New pool & island
lmage Courtesy of Corbis
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Bcach
Ilistoric Report. August 31. 200_5
\llan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Sarhoafs on Miami Beach (1957)
Photographer: Carl Purcell
lmage Courlesy of Corbis
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Expansion and Redevelopment (1997-2005)
In I997. Hotelerama announced the most ambitious Fontainebleau expansion since the Towers
addition of 1958. A new 40-story toweq designed by Nichols Brosch Sandoval & Associates,
was proposed forthe south side of the property. The initial application forthe project in
November of that year called for a 4l -story 250-unit apartment building over a garage. The
final product, called Fontainebleau II, whose application was filed in May, 2000, called for a 36
story tower with 230 units and a multistory parking pedestal occupying the corner of Collins
Avenue and 44th Street. As part of an overall master plan for the property, the proposal includ-
ed a new entrance drive from Collins Avenue, just south of the original hotel entrance, added
underground parking, and a segmented glass spine connecting all the major structures on the
property. The Miami Herald architectural critic, Peter Whoriskey, noted that as aggressive a
gesture as this was, "the proposed project respects the original hotel far more than other refur-
bishments did." l6 After final approvals were granted, Hotelereama teamed with Turnberry
Associates for the project's development.
A cherished victim of this expansion was the once-controversial but later-celebrated Haas mural
on the wall that greeted the curves of Collins Avenue, destroyed in the demolition of the wall
facing 44th Street as the road was shifted 135 feet to the south. The proposal from the
Fontainebleau initially called for preserving the wall as an established character in Miami
Beach street scenography. As a result of the design review process and the suggestion of preser-
vationists like Randall Robinson, the final decision was to take down the wall to reestablish the
Collins Avenue view corridor.
ln January 2004, Muss and Turnberry announced the development of Fontainebleau [II, a200,'
l8-story building slated to replace the Sorrento at the southeast corner of the property. Like
Fontainebleau II, the project was designed by Nichols Brosch Sandoval & Associates. A vari-
ance for a l5'side setback for the parking pedestal was requested in July 2003, and the building
application itself was submitted four months later. Groundbreaking is planned for late 2005, and
the building is scheduled to be open by 2007.
The creation of this report was spurred on May 10,2005 by the first hearing to begin the his-
toric designation process for the district including the Fontainebleau. In a coincidental chronol-
ogy, the next day Fontainebleau Hotel was sold to Jeffrey Soffer's Turnberry Associates in a
newly-formed partnership called Fontainebleau Resorts.
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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lG.-{={Fl.r--a
2003 site plan with Fontainebleau ll addition
lmage Courtesy of Fontainebleau 2 website (www.fontainebleau2.com)
I Arnold Markowitz, "New Fontainebleau Owners Begin the 'Renaissance'," The Mictmi Heraltl.March 15. 197g.
2 Uik. Capuzzo, "The Sand Castle." The Miami Heralcl,February 19. 19g4.
3 Bill Rore, "lt'll Be a 'New'Fontainebleau." The Miami Heralcl,April2l. 197g.
4 lbid, Ror..
5 Norton, Mike, "HotelShows off Its'Ruins'," The ivliqmi Herakl,June 30, 197g.
6 Morin, Richard. "Florida Checks in Fontainebl eau." The Miami Herald,December 20, lg7l.
7 "qr..n of Gooey Hotels," The Miqmi Herald, December 21. lg7g.
8 Mud"l"in. Blais, "The Fontainebleau Fairy Tale: Once upon a time comes again," The Miami Herald,February
3,1980.
9 van Gelder, Lawrence, "Hotels Tum Back clock," Neu. york rirze.s. Augr.rs t 22, lgg2.
l0 Dory Owens, "Hotel took 375 public parking spots over holiday. " The Mianti Heralcl,July 5, 19g3.
I I tuia, capuzzo.
l2 Shunnon, Paul, "Fontainebleau to Expand to Lure Bigger Conventions," The Miami Herald,July 7. 19g4.
l3 Dunlop, Beth, "Mister Vista: His Paintbrush Turns Ho-Hum Walls into Landmarks," The Miami Herald,March.
I 986.
l4 Golb.tg.., Paul, "The Healing Murals of Richard Haas." New.York Times. lanuary 10. 1989.
l5 G*.n, John. "suggesting a Plausible Fantasy," Architectural Digest,July 19g7.
l6 Who.irk.y, Petet "Landmark Hotel Slated to Expand." The Miami Heruld,August 4, lggT .
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Founding Personalities: Ben Novack and Morris Lapidus
Ben Hadwin Novack, founding owner of the Fontainebleau, was born in the Bronx. He worked
at his father's country club in New York's Catskill Mountains, probably his first exposure to
what it takes to provide people with a sense of escape from everyday life. He arrived in Miami
Beach in 1940 and eventually operated the Monroe Towers, the Cornell, the Atlantis and the
Sans Souci hotels before opening the Fontainebleau.l For decades after the opening of his
famous hotel, "Mr. Fontainebleau" as he became known, led a colorful life, as much on the per-
sonal front as in business matters. Much of it found its way into the local press. Novack ran the
hotel with panache, becoming personally associated with the popular entertainment and crimi-
nal figures that frequented it. During the late 1960's Novack's marital problems were also often
in the news. ln 1967, Novack and his wife, Bemice, both filed suits against each other. She
accused him of 'mental cruelty;'he charged Bernice with "being cold and indifferent and
unloving, causing him mental anguish." The Novacks, who had been married since February
15, 1952, finally resolved their marital difficulties with an uncontested divorce on June 1967.
The MiamiHeratd, Sunday, June 18, 1gT6
Couftesy of the Historical Museum of South Ftorida, WTVJ files
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Bom in Russia, Morris Lapidus was raised in Brooklyn and graduated in architecture from
Columbia University in 1927. He found work in the emerging field of store design, where he
soon established a solid reputation as a designer, innovator and theoretician - an accomplished
technician of the interaction between people and buildings. Lapidus developed his own mod-
ernist idiom, which included transparent facades adorned with fypography, and a private vocab-
ulary that included architectural elements he named the "woggle,"'obeanpole," and "cheese
hole." His overarching principle, eventually broadcast in manifestos like An Architecture o/'Joy,
(1979), was that architecture was as an instrument of pleasure. In an architectural practice
established during World War II, Lapidus took on apartment blocks, office buildings, public and
religious structures, and - most importantly - hotels. Hotels were what drew Lapidus to Miami,
providing an ideal pretext for his 'architecture ofjoy'and setting him on a trajectory that would
produce his most influential and controversial work.
Fifteen years after a beginning in stage set design and acting and a successful career designing
alluring retail spaces, Lapidus received the commission for the Fontainebleau. The hotel was a
dream come true. "l just left reality... t designed a Busby Berkley movie set. What t did was
glamour, glamour, glamour. If a small crystal chandelier was glamorous, a huge crystal chande-
lier was glamorous with a capital 6." 2
Lapidus Lounging
lmage courtesy ot GooD BYE!: The Joumal of contemporary obituaries
www. g ood bye m ag. co m/j a n 0 1 /l a p i d u s. h tm t
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
The Fontainebleau Hotel of was conceived and driven by Lapidus and Novack. Their relation-
ship is part of the legend of the hotel, and both claimed ownership of the greatest aspects of the
hotel's design. The architect maintained he designed it while hanging on a strap of the BMT
subway but the original owner always insisted that the form of the tower, a bold quarter circle
facing the sea, came to him either in the bathtub or on the toilet.
Even the name was a subject of controversy. "Novack once explained that he and his wife were
driving through France in l95l when they passed the famous royal palace of Fontainebleau out-
side Paris. 'We didn't stop to look at it,'he said. 'But we like the name, kind of catchy., So
when it came time to build - from his bathtub concept - what Mr. Novack himself called .the
world's most pretentious hotel,' ... it became the Fontainebleau."3 However, it is more likely
that the name evolved from Lapidus'fertile imagination. Fontainebleau, especially the sur-
rounding forest, had been popularized in lgth century France as a bourgeois destination, a pop-
ular locale that cleverly mixed mass-market tourism. According to Ralph Blumenthal, Lapidui
and Novack shared a grandiose vision of kitsch and glitz. According to the narrative that
Lapidus himself promoted, it was Novack who insisted on French provincial and it was Lapidus
who found a way to pare down the baroque qualities of this omate style to make it "modem',
(especially in its exterior features). The interiors were stocked with period antiques purchased
from estates and New York dealers, stripped and reupholstered in white and gold.4
The genesis of the main iconic features of the hotel were, however, furiously debated for the
remainder of Novack's and Lapidus'lives. According to Novack, "It was my idea to have the
curved building, it was my idea to decorate it, it was my idea to build it, it was my idea to pay
for it. He helped. He was part and parcel of me. We worked together. He did a lot of the d6cor.
He's a very clever man. But Ben Novack designed that building." 5
ln response to Novack's claims as designer, Lapidus said: "This is an illiterate man who thinks
he designed the Fontainebleau. He has grand delusions. He had no more to do with it than a
man sweeping a street. He's the greatest egotist in the world. I had to sit with him 'till 2 or 3
o'clock in the morning explaining what I was doing and why I was doing it, and he'd say
you've captured my ideas, you're pushing the pencil. I've written a book about my experience
with Ben Novack. He's a man I once tried to kill and almost succeeded."6
Lapidus was referring to an incident on the construction site of the Fontainebleau: The architect
recalled trying to kill Novack over an unpaid bill. "I was running after him with a 3 by 6
screaming at the top of my lungs - everything stopped on the job - and saying this man must
die. He ran away and I ran after him and it took about three of the partners to restrain me. I
blacked out... or I would have flattened him."7 Eventually their relationship was severed entire-
ly when Lapidus took his next commission - the design of the Eden Roc hotel next door.
After being thrown out of the Fontainebleau in bankruptcy in 1977, Novack never retumed.
Quoted years later in local newspapers, he seemed to have never tost his bittemess over the loss
of his dream resort. Novack, from exile, noted that "The glory I got being Mr. Fontainebleau
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
will go on forever... But there was no glory in building a failure... There's nothing to celebrate.,,8 He exiled
himself to Ocean Ridge, Florida and later opened a Boynton Beach restaurant with a jail-house theme called
the Alcatraz.9
After the bankruptcy sale of the Fontainebleau, two fires occurred that were never explained. tn 197g, the year
the hotel was sold, the storeroom over the penthouse suites in the north tower caught on fire. Smoke and
flames caused hysteria for pedestrians and motorists on Collins Avenue, but no one was injured and most of
the staffand guests inside the hotel were unaware of the blaze.Arson was not ruled out.l0 Two years later, afire in the Fontainebleau banquet rooms and ballrooms, originating in the basement storage room below,
forced 1,000 guests to evacuate. "A dozen guests and six firemen were ffeated for smoke inhalation. No one
was reported hospitalized. Again, the cause of the fire was not immediately determined.,'ll
Ben Novack died of heart and lung failure at age 78 at Mount Sinai Medical Center on Friday, April 5, 19g5.
He had owned and operated the Fontainebleau from its opening in 1954 until he filed for Federaibankruptcy
protection in 1977 . At the time of his death, Mr. Novack had been at the center of a mental competency fight
over his ability to administer his estate, estimated at Sl million.l2 Lapidus died in January, 2001.
I Don Bedwell, "Novack: I Wish Hotel Were 'somewhere Else"' l'lre Miami Herqld,June 13, 1g75,!,!?
2 vtikt Capuzzo,"The Sand Castle: The Famed Fontainebleau, inspired by a French castle and a Miami Beach toilet seat. has seen -and barely survived - more than 10,000 nights." The Miami Herald, February 19, 19g4.
3 Rulph Blumenthal, "Miami Beach Fights to Regain Its Superstar Billing," New york Times, June 17.lg7g.
4 "Fontainebleau, Miami's Hotel of the year," Inrerior.s,May 1955, v. I14, pp. gg-95.
5 ruia, Capuzzo.
6 tuia, Capuzzo.
7 tuia, Capuzzo.
8 tuia, Capuzzo.
9 tuio, Capuzzo.
10 Ch.ittopher Cubbison, "Towering Hotel Escapes Infemo," The Miami Heralcl," March 31, 197g.ll Joun Fleischman, "Fontainebleau Blaze Forces 1,000 to Flee," The Miami Heralcl.May 25, 19g0.l2 "B.n Novack Sr., 78 Is Dead; Founder of Fonrainebleau,,. New, york Times
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Retrospective
In a 1997 interview, Lapidus was asked which, of all the buildings he had designed, was his
favorite. "The Fontainebleau. Sweeping, curving. It represents my most original thinking. It was
a fantasy work of richness and elegance. It was a world that excited people. They loved it."l
Although often bashed for his design indulgence, at the time of his death in 2001 Lapidus had
finally gained the respect of his colleagues and critics that had been missing.
Earlier, at age 85 the retired architect reflected on his hotel lobbies: 'l wanted people to walk in
and drop dead.' 'Some did,' replied his wife, Beatrice, who is 79. Even with a portfolio of more
than 200 hotels around the world, Lapidus still struggled fbr respect. "Excoriated by critics ...
his 'modern French chateau' designs for the Fontainebleau ... flew in the face of mainsffeam
international modernism. They have since become renegade popular landmarks, appreciated
anew by a younger generation of architects. [n an open letter in the [talian design magazine
Domus, for example, Alessandro Mendini gushed over Mr. Lapidus's 'acrobatic virruosity.' He
said, 'We believe the method of which you are a precursor is as necessary as it is dangerous."'2
Early critics offered scathing reviews. "Fairy wonderlands, extravagant entertainment, strawber-
ry cream cheesecake,'said New York architect Norval White of the work of the Fontainebleau's
architect, Morris Lapidus. ... 'Uninspired superschlock,' hamrmphed Ada Louise Huxtable -then the New York Times' architectural critic - after a New York gallery's exhibit of Lapidus'
work. 'l don't want to lull anyone's senses,'explained Lapidus in return."3 He "rejoiced that
people loved to be seen on his overscaled steps, particularly when dressed to kill. 'They want to
feel like millionaires and so I put them on stage,' he once said of his stairway for the
Fontainebleau Hotel."4
Other opinions on the hotel's design were more benevolent, but they came from outside the
establishment of architecture and architectural criticism. Just before the Fontainebleau opened,
a New York Times reporter declared that it "has already added favorably to the skytine of Miami
Beach. From Collins Avenue, the Fontainebleau's lines are strong and clean, and have consider-
able beauty. There can be strong differences of opinion with architect Arthur [sic] Lapidus
about the concrete decorations and accretions around the ocean side of the building."5
In retrospect, it seems clear that, in order to have viewed the Fontainebleau favorably, you had
to 'oget" what it was about. Paul Goldberger noted that it is "to architecture what the 1959
Cadillac is to cars * swooping, wildly extravagant, fuIl of self-indutgent glitter and pomp."6
Even the transfer of bellboy shifts, or the "changing of the guards", was a spectacle that added
to the theatricality of the hotel. "The greatest mistake hotel designers make," says Lapidus, ..is
thinking a hotel is a home away from home. I've given these people something to gape at; you
might call it a tasteful three-ring circus."7 Lapidus famously said that a hotel should be "no
place like home."
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
AIIan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
139
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Lapidus knew the importance of keeping people entertained. He claimed the curve of the build-
ing was to diminish the otherwise monotonous experience of long, interior corridors, providing
an experience unlike any other. "The plan resembles nothing for the past. There's hardly a
straight line in it - it just moves, with one curve going one way, and another in the opposite
direction. There's no end. ... A perceptual psychologist would say that shifting the point of
view prompts people to move: Arthur Murray would say Lapidus twirled guests like a dancer
into other dimensions."8
And people clearly took pleasure in the dance and wanted more. As Gilbert Millstein reflected,
"With the addition of the Americana, [Lapidus] now enjoys (with the mildly melancholic reser-
vations imposed by the artist on himself), the distinction of being the architect of what are very
likely the three best known and the two most expensive resort hotels in the world. He is the
architect and designer also of last year's hotel, the Italianate Eden Roc..."9
As the hotel grew and mutated, reactions to the experience at the hotel shifted accordingly.A
travel writer in 1998 expressed her disappointment in the current version of the Fontainebleau's
playful interior: "it was dark and had been renovated with a dull institutional hand."l0 Although
overall benevolent in his view of the hotel, journalist and writer T.D. Allman inserted his own
brand of ironic amazement in his portrayal of the Fontainebleau in his book, Miami; City o/'the
Future'. "1 took my bath in a whirling Jacuzzi big as that bed at the Fontainebleau, and as I went
out, the Haitian maids, in their white uniforms, were singing a song of the Caribbean, and I
realized: five years ago that immense machine, that immense Jacuzzi, those Haitian, this hotel -
none of them had been here. The whole damn place was made up! The whole damn place was
just made up."l I
The death of Lapidus in January 2001 prompted Herbert Muschamp, the New York Times archi-
tectural critic, to re-analyze the role of the architect of "swank." "At the Fontainebleau Hotel,
scene of the Miami shots in'Goldfinger,'Lapidus made Swiss cheese holes look ... swanky. ...
The password was swanky and swanky meant sex. Lapidus, who died last month in Miami
Beach at the age of 98, left behind a legacy of imaginative mid-century buildings and the criti-
cal controversy they swirled up. He is best known as the leading designer of Florida resort
architecture in the 1950's. The Fontainebleau and Eden Roc are considered his masterpieces. ...
The conflict over Lapidus was only partly between high- and low-brow taste. There was also a
generational divide. In the 1960's, everyone I know loved Lapidus, for the same reason we
loved'Goldfinger." Both carried the seal of parental disapproval. Like Miami Beach, Lapidus
stood for a certain idea of the exotic. Eroticism was part of it. Jewishness was part of it.
Difference in itself is swanky. So is power. Lapidus gave us the power to see beauty where oth-
ers saw trash, humor where others saw bad taste, feeling where others saw a breach in decorum.
The freedom to see what you like can be potent. The young are experts at it. It is often the only
power they have. Lapidus was a spring break all year round." Muschamp goes on to argue that
this swank was also a threat to the architectural world - that buildings that "transgress the rules
of decorum" call for the civilized critic to protect his sophisticated urbanity by attacking archi-
tecfural displays of irrationality, primitivism, emotion and sensibility.l2
Historic Report, August 3 t, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
140
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
I "lnterview: Lapidus Cuts Loose," Architecture, February 1997.
2 B-*n, Patricia Leigh, "Drop Dead' Lapidus Look: Going for the Gorgeous Design,', New york Times, May 12,
1988.
3 Author?, "Queen of Gooey Hotels," The Miami Herald,December 21,lg7g.
4 Glueck, Grace. "Desiga Notebook: Reflections on the passing of grand, sweeping staircases," New york Times,luly 22,1982.
5 p.l.C.f., Pleasure Palaces: New Luxury Hotels on Miami Beach Are Approaching the Ne plus Ultra,:, New york
Times, December 12, 1954.
6 Goldb..g"r, Paul, "Comebacks: The Architect of Swanky Populism," The New yorker,December 3, 2000.
7 "Fontainebleau, Miami's Hotel of the year," Interiors,May 1955, v. I14, pp. gg-95.
8 Joseph Giovannini, "Ahead of the curves ," New york Magazine," March 26,2001.
9 Gilb"rt Millstein, "Architect De Luxe of Miami Beach," New york rimes,January 6, lgsl.
l0 Duir"r,, Mclane, "Adios South Beach, Hola Budget Miami," New york rimes,october I l, 199g.
I I t.o. Allman, Miami: City of the Fnture,New york: The Atlantic Monthly press, 19g7.l2 Herbert Muschamp, "Defining Beauty in Swanky American Terms,,, New york rimes
Historic Report, August 31,2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
141
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Contemporary Photo Survey
Taken June 2005
142
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Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
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,\llan T. Shulman
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Fontainebleau site, view from Collins Avenue north
ATS photo 2005
August 31. 2005
Architect, P.A.
143
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Fontainebleau ll fiom Collins Avenue north
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Original Entrance
ATS photo 2005
144
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Soufhnzesf corner of Fontainebleau il pedestal
ATS photo 2005
New Entrance from Collins Avenue
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
145
Fontainebleau ll pedestal from Collins
ATS photo 2005
Fontainbleau ll from Collins Avenue at 44th Sfreet
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Rc'pott, August 3 I, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
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146
New Porte-Cochere
ATS photo 2005
New Porte-Cochere
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
147
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View of connector from Pofte-Cochere
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
View of Chateau from Porte-Cochere
ATS photo 2005
148
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View of Chateau & Garden Lobby beyond new entrance
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Porte-cochere canopy and connector spine from above
ATS photo 2005
149
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Connector spine to Chateau Building and Tropigala from above
ATS photo 2005
\\
Connector spine to Fontainebleau lll
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Mianli Bcach
llistoric Report. August 31. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect. P..\.
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150
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Exterior Stair from Garden Lobby
ATS photo 2005
Exterior of Garden Lobby
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 t, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
151
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North wall of Versailles Tower from boardwalk
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Versailles Tower from boardwalk
ATS photo 2005
152
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View of Chateau from boardwalk southeast
ATS photo 2005
View of Chateau from boardwalk east
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
153
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Porte-Cochere & Fontainebleau llfrom east
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau ll from east
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
154
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Fontainebleau I I Pedestal
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau ll behind Sonento addition
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31,2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
155
Chateau Lobby & Tower
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
156
Chateau Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Chateau Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
157
Chateau Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Chateau Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
158
Chateau Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Chateau Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
159
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Lobby from Mezzanine
ATS phob 2a05
Lobby Column Detail
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
160
Lobby Chandelier Detail
CIM photo 2005
Lobby Chandelier Detail
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
161
Lobby Chandelier Detail
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Lobby, View toward Sfarrs
CIM photo 2005
162
Lobby Stairs
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Lobby Stairs
CIM photo 2005
163
Garden Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Garden Bar
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31,2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
164
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View towards Elevator Lobby
CIM photo 2005
View of Lobby sfores
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report. August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
165
Elevator Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Elevator Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
166
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Wall Sconce in Elevator Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Wall Sconce in Elevator Lobby
CIM photo 2005
167
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Sfafue located in Elevator Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Sfafue located in Lobby Entrance
CIM photo 20A5
168
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Sfarr fo Spine Connecting to Fontainebteau tt
CIM photo 2005
Connector Spine
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
169
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Entry to Fontaine & Fleur de Lis
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Entry to Fleur de Lis Room
CIM photo 2005
170
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Entry to Fontaine Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontaine Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
171
Fontaine & Fleur de Lrs Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Fontaine Room
CIM photo 2005
172
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Fontaine & Fleur de Lis Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Tropigala Entrance
CIM photo 2005
173
Tropigala Bar
CIM photo 2005
Tropigala
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
174
Tropigala
CIM photo 2005
Tropigala
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
175
Tropigala
CIM photo 2005
Io Resfrooms
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
176
Lobby Passageway
CIM photo 2005
Lobby Passageway
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
AIIan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
177
Lobby Passageway
CIM photo 2005
Breakfast Room
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
178
Lobby Passageway
CIM photo 2005
Lobby Passageway
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
179
Lobby Dining Room
CIM photo 2005
Lobby Dining Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
180
o
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Lobby Dining Room Chandelier
CIM phob 2a05
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Entrance to Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
181
Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 t, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
182
Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
183
Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
184
View from Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
185
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
Tower Lounge
CIM photo 2005
Chateau Tower Suite
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
186
Chateau Tower Suite
CIM photo 2005
Chateau Tower Suite
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
187
Chateau Tower Suite
CIM photo 2005
Chateau Tower Suite
CIM photo 2A05
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
188
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Chateau Tower Suite Terrace
CIM photo 2005
Chateau Tower Suite
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Bcach
Historic Report, August 31. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
189
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
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o
O
o
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o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
Chateau Tower Suite Terrace
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Chateau Tower Hallway
CIM photo 2005
190
Chateau Tower Elevator Lobby
CIM photo 2005
Room 839
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
191
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
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o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
Versailles Building:
Ballrooms, Meeting Rooms, and Tower
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
192
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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O
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O
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
Grand Gallerie Stairs
CIM photo 2005
Grand Gallerie Stairs
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
193
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Grand Galleie
CIM photo 2005
Grand Gallerie
CIM photo 20a5
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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Grand Gallerie
CIM photo 2005
Grand Gallerie
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
195
Level I Conidor
CIM photo 2005
Le Mans Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
196
Bittany Room
CIM photo 2005
Bordeaux Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
197
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
O
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o
o
o
O
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Level lV Conidor
CIM photo 2005
Level lV Corridor
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
198
Level lV Conidor
CIM photo 2005
Level lV Corridor
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
199
Level lV Coridor
CIM photo 2005
Cheese Wall, Level lV
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
200
Pasteur Room
CIM photo 2005
Pasteur Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
201
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
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o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Club Atlantic Entrance
CIM photo 2005
Club Atlantic Reception
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
202
Club Atlantic Green Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Club Atlantic Room
CIM photo 2005
203
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
::
Club Atlantic Room
CIM photo 2005
Club Atlantic Sconce Detail
CIM photo 2005
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
.-&*
204
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
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o
O
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
Club Atlantic Room, View to Terrace
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Club Atlantic Room
CIM photo 2005
205
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Club Atlantic Terrace
CIM photo 2005
Club Atlantic Terrace
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miarni Be'ach
Historic Report. August 3 1. 200-s
Allan T. Shulman Architect" P.A.
206
O
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Fontainebleau Ballroom Transverse Conidor
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Fontainebleau Ballroom, Section D
CIM photo 2005
210
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
O
o
a
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o
o
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Fontainebleau Ballroom, Section D
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miarli Bcach
llistoric Report, ALrgust 31. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.i\.
Fontainebleau Ballroom, Section D
CIM photo 2005
211
Jade Promenade, Level ll
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
212
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
213
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
214
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
O
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
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o
o
O
o
o
o
O
o
O
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o 215
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
llistoric Report, Au_eust 31. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
216
Grand Ballroom
ATS phob 2A05
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
217
Grand Ballroom
ATS photo 2005
Grand Ballroom Mirror
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
218
Grand Ballroom Minor
ATS photo 2005
Grand Ballroom Minor
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
219
Restroom
ATS photo 2005
Restroom
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
220
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Lower Lobby Dining
CIM photo 2005
Lower Lobby Dining
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Repon, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
221
o
O
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Lower Lobby Store
CIM photo 2005
Lower Lobby Store
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
222
o
O
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Lower Lobby Fitness Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Versailles Tower Elevators
CIM photo 2005
223
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
O
o
o
o
o
a
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Ve rsa i I I e s Towe r E I ev ato rs
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Entrance to Room 979
CIM photo 2005
224
Room 979
CIM photo 2005
Room 979 Tenace
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
22s
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Room 979 Terrace
CIM photo 2005
View from Room 979
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
226
Room 979 Bathroom
CIM photo 2005
Suite 15H Entry
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
227
Suite 15H Entry
CIM photo 2005
Suite 15H Entry
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
228
o
o
o
O
O
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
O
o
o
a
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Suite 15H Dining & Conference Area
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Suite 15H Kitchen
CIM photo 2005
229
Suite 15H Lounge Area
CIM photo 2005
Suite 15H Bedroom
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
230
Suite 15H Bedroom
CIM photo 2005
Suite 15H Bedroom
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
llistoric Report. Au-r1ust 3 l. 200,5
A,llan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
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o
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o
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o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
a
O
o
o
o
o
Suite 15H Bedroom
CIM photo 2005
Suite 15H Bedroom
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect. P.A.
232
Cookie
CIM photo 2005
Cookie
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
233
Cookie
CIM photo 2005
Cookie
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
234
Cookie
CIM photo 2005
Cookie
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, p.A.
235
Cookie
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Pool
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
236
Poolview
ATS photo 2005
Pool view from Boardwalk
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
237
Pool view from Boardwalk
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
r"El:'-!,
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View towards Cabanas
CIM photo 2005
238
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
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o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Cabanas
CIM photo 2005
Cabanas Shop
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, Alrgust 31. 200-5
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
239
Cabanas, Level ll
ATS photo 2005
Cabana lnteior
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31,2A05
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
240
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Cabanas Locker Room
CIM photo 2005
Cabanas Locker Room
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
241
F ontainebleau Hotel
\{ianri Bcaclr
Ilistoric Rcport. Au_uust 3l.2005
Allan T. Shulman .,\rchitect. P..\.
Kids Cove Entrance
CIM photo 2005
Kids Cove
CIM photo 2005
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o 242
Kids Cove
CIM photo 2005
Kids Cove
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
243
Kids Cove
CIM photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
244
Fontainebleau II
Lobby, Typical Studio and One-Bedroom Units
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
245
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
Stairs from Lower Lobby to Reception
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
246
Lobby
ATS photo 2005
Lobby
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
247
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Typical Hallway on Upper Floors
ATS photo 2005
Hallway from Lobby
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
248
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
a
o
o
o
O
O
o
o
One-Bedroom Unit
ATS photo 2005
One-Bedroom Unit
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
249
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
a
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
O
o
One-Bedroom Unit
ATS photo 2005
One-Bedroom Unit
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31,2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
2s0
One-Bedroom Unit
ATS photo 2005
One-Bedroom Unit
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l. 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
251
View from One-Bedroom Unit
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 1, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
View from One-Bedroom Unit
ATS photo 2005
252
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 3 l, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
Studio
ATS photo 2005
Sfudio
ATS photo 2005
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o 253
Studio
ATS photo 2005
Sfudio
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
254
Studio
ATS photo 2005
Studrb
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
255
View from Studio
ATS photo 2005
View from Studio
ATS photo 2005
Fontainebleau Hotel
Miami Beach
Historic Report, August 31, 2005
Allan T. Shulman Architect, P.A.
256