Ritz Plaza Hotel
- Architect
- Lawrence Murray Dixon
- Year
- 1940
- Style
- Art Deco
- City
- Miami, FL
- Collection
- ocean drive deco
Built in 1939 for the Grossinger family, who expanded their Catskills resort business into Miami Beach, the Ritz Plaza Hotel opened as the Grossinger Beach Hotel, a 12-story, 203-foot Art Deco tower designed by L. Murray Dixon. It was the tallest building in Miami Beach for 30 years and the city's first air-conditioned hotel.
the building
Wartime officers' quarters. During World War II, the U.S. Army used the hotel to house high-ranking officers stationed on Miami Beach.
A name for every era. The hotel reopened as the Ritz Plaza in 1946, was restored to its Art Deco roots in 1990 after purchase by Ignacio Contreras and Manuel Llerandi, and was rebuilt again as the SLS South Beach, reopening in June 2012 after a renovation begun under developer Sam Nazarian.
the style
Dixon designed the tower in Art Deco for the Grossinger family in 1939, and its 1989-90 restoration under new owners deliberately returned the hotel to that original Deco detailing.
More on Art Decothe architect
L. Murray Dixon was a prolific Art Deco architect in Miami Beach, and this 1939 tower for the Grossinger family was among his designs from the era.
significance
The hotel joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Hotels of America in 1991, and it held the title of Miami Beach's tallest building for three decades until surpassed by the 5660 Condominiums.
nearby
- San Juan Hotel
- The Gale Hotel
- The National Hotel
- Sagamore Hotel South Beach
- Hotel Di Lido
- Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel