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"A History of the Cadillac Hotel
“An Architectural Gem that Stands the Test of Time”
The Courtyard by Marriott Miami Beach Oceanfront is a stunning boutique Art Deco hotel that has graced Collins Avenue and the shores of Miami Beach for almost seven decades. With a $40 million restoration in 2004, this property continues to attract a happening crowd of national and international visitors. The unique vertical lines and open, airy design was purposefully created by one of Miami Beach’s most influential and prolific architects, Roy France. In 1940 and from humble beginnings, the Cadillac Hotel was built for a total construction cost of $280,000 and opened to vacationers. France also designed other iconic hotels, including Versailles and Sea Isle, which highlighted his style of architecture and the growing vertical skyline along Collins Avenue. With his early experience in Chicago, where the skyscraper was born, France began to build 12 to 14 story hotels on Miami Beach.
The Cadillac Hotel originally boasted 106 steam heated guestrooms, a palm-studded pool and cabana area, lounge and coffee shop, and a block of private beach. The hotel featured car-like elements similar to its namesake, the design-oriented Cadillac automobile. A shiny cantilevered porte cochere resembled the hood of a car and welcomed guests into the sweeping circular driveway, the hotel’s signage in cursive italics characterized speed and fluidity, and the central vertical bands of the top finial element were similar to an automobile’s pinstripes and lines.
Guests entered the lobby with a high ceiling, where the original terraza flooring presented the Cadillac Coat of Arms and a unique mezzanine catwalk and iron railing revealed art deco patterns of musical notes and nature.
Despite its exterior and structural grandeur, the hotel was decorated with warm, stuffed furniture and a fireplace in the lounge, window treatments that invited guests to have unobstructed views of the pool area, and striking decorative elements and floral arrangements adorning the walls and tables.
In the 1950s and after occupation by Armed Forces training troops during World War II, the hotel welcomed an 8-story addition with 148 guestrooms and six efficiency apartments, as well as a cocktail room and redesigned lobby. The improvements were timed perfectly to offer appeal during the tourism boom and heydays of 1950s-1960s, where music and film stars such as Nat King Cole, Jackie Gleason and Ann Margaret played on Miami Beach. In 1957, the film “Pal Joey” was filmed at the hotel, featuring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.
A new era had arrived, and distinctive Art Deco hotels were sought after. Veteran stage, screen and television actor, Eddy Bracken, and a group of partners purchased the property in October 1959. Bracken was quoted saying “the Cadillac was a $4 million hotel.” Over the years, the Cadillac Hotel went through renovations and transformations—it stood the test of time."