750 Collins Ave Miami Beach, Florida USA

Empire Hotel

Construction date: documented 1935*

Current name:

Empire Hotel

Architect:

L. Murray Dixon

Builder:

S.C. Davis

Style:

Collins avenue hotel, Art Deco.

Symmetrical tripartite primary facade (east elevation); Recessed portholes ornament building just below the roofline; Stepped ziggurat roofline; Fluted vertical spandrels; Vertical fluting above first, second and third floor level windows; Fluting on four porch columns that separate the 3 bay design; Terrazzo porch floor design; Vertical racing stripe on either side of outer bay windows that extends from the second floor level to the roofline

Open to the public:

Yes.   *Note: Only the first floor level retail space is open to the public

 

Status of Historic Designation:

Designated at National level : Miami Beach Architectural District, 1979
Designated at Local level : Ocean Drive/Collins Avenue District, 1986

Area(s) of Significance:

Architecture
Community Planning and Development

Associated Files:

Architectural Description:

This is a 3-story, 3-bay domestic building in the Art Deco style built in 1935. The structural system is cement blocks. The foundation is reinforced concrete. Exterior walls are stucco. The building has a flat with parapet roof. Windows are replacement aluminum jalacy casement. Second and third floor level windows are a set of casement windows flanked by adjacent fixed windows; The central bay windows are then also flanked by singular stand-alone fixed windows. There is a single-story, full-span open porch characterized by an integrated (under the main) roof with fluted stuccoed posts. Porch is full-span across the east elevation, with the entrance to the porch directly centered up one step and the primary entryway directly behind that; Porch is cut out into the building; Porch is framed by four evenly-spaced fluted columns; Two-colored terrazzo floor design; Edges of porch finished in brick; Highly ornamented metal railing (waves along the top, diamonds and circles below). Primary entryway is centered on the east elevation; Glass door with narrow fixed glass window on either side and fixed glass arched window on top.

* Date source: Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser

Description generated by RuskinARC.