The Lauderdale Beach Hotel We Knew

In 1936 noted Miami Beach architect Roy F. France was hired by Fort Lauderdale banker James Knight to design the three-story, 60-room Lauderdale Beach Hotel. This deluxe facility just north of Las Olas Boulevard was designed in the prevalent Art Deco style.  It was the first hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach and it was so successful that less than a year later, France was asked to design a six-story addition to the south, increasing the capacity to 150 rooms.

For nearly 40 years, the Knight and Stilwell families owned and managed the "Queen of the Beach" resort which grew to include a large swimming pool, tennis court and putting green.  Longtime president and manager, Thomas Stilwell was the son-in-law of Charles Knight, son of the original builder James.

The popularity of this first beach hotel and resort initiated development of the Fort Lauderdale's tourist economy following the disastrous 1926 hurricane and the Depression. In 1938, the Fort Lauderdale News called it "one of the most imposing structures in Florida." It is the only Roy France Hotel in Broward County.

In Miami Beach, France was a prolific hotel architect of the 1935-to-WWII period working in the Art Deco, Streamline and Post War Modeme style. Eighteen of his projects remain in the Miami Beach/Collins Waterfront Historic District. In the Art Deco Historic District of South Beach, he designed the National Hotel, the St. Moritz and the Edgewater Beach Hotel.  By the early 1940s, France's buildings had virtually created the beach skyline. The Sea Isle, The Patrician, Versailles, Ocean Grande, and after WWII, the Saxony, Sans Souci and Casablanca are among his best known.

The Art Deco style elegance of Lauderdale Beach Hotel attracted notable .patrons such as U.S. Senator Harry Truman. Travel guides and advertisements from the 1940s to 1970s promoted "black tie dining service, luncheon and dinner music, weekly dances, bridge, servants' rooms and hotel limo service to and from stations." For a time, a boardwalk extended along the beach in front of the hotel, where Las Olas Beach Club luxury condominium now stands. 

During World War II, the hotel contributed significantly to Fort Lauderdale's importance as a U.S. Navy Training Center. With the nearby Trade Winds Hotel, it became a top secret Naval Radar and Range Finder School from June 1943 to January 1946. Records indicate at least 5,000 seamen graduated, at least one class every 60 days. Range finders and other secret equipment were mounted on the top of the two hotels. Tight security prevailed. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic were routed around them with wire fences blocking off the beach. After the war, many veterans returned to make their homes in Fort Lauderdale and surrounding Broward County.

In late 1946, the hotel reopened under the management of Charles Knight. In April 1974 it was purchased by the Dublin-based Guinness-Mahon Company who sold it a few years later to a Media, Pennsylvania developer, William Strine. A marketing firm Strine hired is credited with starting the infamous Fort Lauderdale "Spring Break" by advertising the hotel's beachfront features at 52 United States college campuses.

In reaction to the overwhelming annual student pilgrimage, Strine eventually turned to attracting convention business in 1988 when he put over $2 million into extensive renovation. For several more years his firm managed the by-then 200 room hotel.

Strine's plans to demolish the hotel and build a 28-story condominium tower were presented to the City's Planning and Zoning board on October 17, 2001 and approved 5-3. Demolition and construction were delayed by an historic designation application filed a few days later by a group that would later form the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation in August 2002.

In a settlement Agreement, the Trust dropped a lawsuit against the City of Fort Lauderdale seeking to block the condo project It agreed to support a modified development which moved plans forward for the 28-story condo tower and adjacent garage which are now the completed Las Olas Beach Club, perhaps the most magnificent luxury condominium on Fort Lauderdale's beach. .

The entire north, east and south sides of the 1936-1937 hotel, plus small portions of the west side were protected by landmark status granted by the City Commission 10/19/04.

TRG&S Las alas Beach Club gave the Trust a deed of preservation easement 6/24/04 which grants monitoring and enforcement rights in the restoration, maintenance and protection of the facades plus funds to further its mission as advocate of preserving other significant architecture throughout Broward County.

The TRG&S Las Olas Beach Club agreed to hire architectural preservation experts William Medellin and Ellen Uguccioni to supervise and approve construction methods and materials for the restoration. The Trust agreed to support the condo project.  Monthly on-site meetings to monitor the restoration were held throughout the three year construction period by the Trust, restoration architect and the project manager.

Two fireplaces, the original elevator, a decorative frieze over the original lobby entrance and a stairway with art deco railings connecting six floors of the south section remain intact for preservation of Fort Lauderdale beach architectural heritage.  Custom-made window replacements conforming to current code and faithful to the original design have been installed throughout the historic building. Paint consultants have confirmed the off-white color ofthe original natural limestone exterior.

For 77 years the historic hotel clock tower has witnessed violent storms, World War II anxieties, U.S. Naval training activities, Spring Break pranks, the dust of demolition, and the cacophony of new construction. Its tired and rusted mechanical works have been replaced by a 21st Century high-tech satellite-guided movement. 

All in all the design of Fort Lauderdale's Las Olas Beach Club is a triumph of civic pride in historic architecture working hand in hand with forward thinking builders of the kind of luxury beachfront condominiums Fort Lauderdale wants. 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has recorded these other architectural history gems in the Fort Lauderdale area.