The Fontainebleau’s folly
Miami Beach’s oceanfront Fontainebleau Hotel has been the standard of luxury in South Florida for more than 60 years. The building was designed in 1954 by Miami’s archduke of architecture, Morris Lapidus. Fleeing the pogroms in turn-of-the-century Russia as an infant, Lapidus locked in on pursuing the American Dream. Through the 1950s, he singlehandedly transformed Miami Beach from Lincoln Road to Temple Menorah, one real-estate project at a time.
Although the Fontainebleau is now considered the grande dame of Miami Beach, critics weren’t so kind when it was newly built; views ranged from “boardinghouse baroque” to “superschlock” – from “high kitsch” to “pornography of architecture.” The landmark hotel is as opulent as it is tremendous. In excess of 1,500 rooms are contained within the sparkling white megastructure, as well as more than ten restaurants and bars and a 40,000-square-foot spa. Its curved, sleek Miami-moderne exterior is unmistakable, but the interior, particularly the lobby, is what made the Fontainebleau’s legend come alive.
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Address 4441 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33140, +1 305.538.2000, www.fontainebleau.com | Tip Lapidus’s other famous Hotel, the Eden Roc (4525 Collins Ave), borders the Fontainebleau. Check out the Fontainebleau’s smaller, slightly more subdued younger sister.
Polished, white marble floors dotted with black marble bowties and punctured by modern Doric columns set the scene for the Chateau Lobby, whose ceiling drips with shimmering chandeliers shaped like upside-down wedding cakes, each 16 feet in diameter. But the centerpiece of the Fontainebleau’s lobby is an alluring staircase that leads to nowhere.
At one time, the staircase led up to a coatroom. It was intended as a way for guests to be seen, fashionably ascending and descending the steps, showing off their regalia and posing for pictures. But with society becoming increasingly less formal, the desire to flaunt unnecessary furs in the warm climate dwindled. The coatroom was removed; the stairway, however, still remains, just as it was in 1954. Today it serves as an eccentric reminder of the way Miami Beach used to strut its stuff.
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