Design
Lapidus designed the Eden Roc for a site immediately to the north of his Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel built in 1954. The hotel was designed for Harry Mufson, who had partnered with Ben Novack to build the Fontainebleau. The Eden Roc site had previously been the Warner Estate, owned by Albert Warner of the Warner Brothers. Mufson told Lapidus "I don't want any of the French stuff you used at the Fontainebleau. That's for kids." Novack, who had parted with Mufson on bad terms, retaliated by building a blank 17-story wing as a "spite wall" on the Fontainebleau property to shade the Eden Roc's pool, the sole window on the north side belonging to Novack's apartment.
At the Eden Roc Lapidus avoided the sweeping curves of the Fontainebleau, choosing instead a more formal composition reminiscent of earlier Miami Beach hotels. The hotel is surmounted by a large finned enclosure bearing the hotel's signs. An addition on the south side of the Eden Roc property was built to cover the spite wall and new pools were built in unshaded locations.
The hotel was named after the Eden Roc pavilion at the Hotel du Cap in Antibes, France. The hotel housed the Cafe Pompei, a supper club that offered entertainment with dinner. The Mona Lisa Room was an intimate formal dining room., and Harry's American Bar (named for Harry Mufson) was the hotel's nightclub.
The hotel was restored in 1997 by architects Spillis Candela and Partners, and expanded in 2006. The hotel is currently operated by Marriott International under its Renaissance Hotels & Resorts brand.
Read more about this topic: Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel Miami Beach
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