Palmer House

Current/Common name: Palmer House

Construction date: documented 1939*

Architect: L. Murray Dixon

Builder: Prufert-Wein Construction Company

Style: Collins avenue hotel, Art Deco . Asymmetrical facade design; Multi-colored terrazzo floor designs (interior and exterior); Ziggurat roofline at northwest corner of building; Parapet roofline; Continuous eyebrows rounded at building's corners; "Palmer House" vertical signage at northern end of west elevation; Vertical stripes in the form of medium-relief fluting just to the south of the "Palmer House" signage; Lighthouse finial at northwest corner of building; Green oolitic limestone as ornamenting veneer around primary entryway; Low-relief star-shaped ornamentation along cornice of west elevation.

Open to the public: Yes.

Historic Designation: National (Miami Beach Architectural District, 1979) ; Local (Ocean Drive/Collins Avenue District, 1986)

Architectural Description

This is a 3-story domestic: Hotel building in the Art Deco style built in 1939. The foundation is spread footing. Exterior walls are oolitic limestone (primary) and stucco (secondary). The building has a flat with parapet roof. Windows are replacement aluminum casements. There is a single-story, wrap-around open porch characterized by a flat roof clad in stuccoed with fluted stuccoed posts. Porch is not recessed into the building; Porch extends across the entire west elevation, wraps around the southwest building corner, and continues across the west side of the south elevation; Multi-colored terrazzo floor designs; Simple metal railing; West elevation portion of the porch is shaded by an eyebrow that extends out from just above the first floor level of the building; South elevation portion of the porch is unshaded. Primary entryway is on the northern end of the west elevation portion of the porch; Up three short steps from the ground level; Entryway is covered in green oolitic limestone; "PH" terrazzo floor design just in front of the primary doorway; Double-door with fixed transom window ornamented with the same metalwork design as on the porch; Primary entryway framed by two large fluted columns covered in the green oolitic limestone. Asymmetrical facade design; Multi-colored terrazzo floor designs (interior and exterior); Ziggurat roofline at northwest corner of building; Parapet roofline; Continuous eyebrows rounded at building's corners; "Palmer House" vertical signage at northern end of west elevation; Vertical stripes in the form of medium-relief fluting just to the south of the "Palmer House" signage; Lighthouse finial at northwest corner of building; Green oolitic limestone as ornamenting veneer around primary entryway; Low-relief star-shaped ornamentation along cornice of west elevation. The builder is recorded as Prufert-Wein Construction Company. The architect is recorded as L. Murray Dixon. The original/significant owner is recorded as Palmer Realty Company (original).

* Date source: Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser

Description generated by RuskinARC^™.