HISTORY: With the dream of creating one of the world’s greatest resorts, hotelier Ben Novack purchased the Firestone mansion in 1952 for $2.3 million and appointed Morris Lapidus as project architect. Lapidus’ plan was to create the largest hotel in Miami Beach including 554 guest rooms in an 11-story building with a spectacular curving façade that first outraged critics. The hotel tower included a 17,000-square-foot lobby with bow-tie marble floors and a two-story “Staircase to Nowhere,” rooftop gymnasium, Russian and Turkish baths and the La Ronde Supper Club. Fontainebleau Hotel made its dramatic debut in 1954 with a grand ball attended by 1,600 people.

Today, Fontainebleau Miami Beach blurs the line between the glamour of the past, the luxury of the present, and a new vision for tomorrow. Emerging from the original vision of legendary Lapidus, whose daring designs epitomized a concept of setting a stage where everyone who enters will play their part, Fontainebleau combines striking design, contemporary art, music, fashion and technology into a vibrant new kind of immersive guest experience. Following a $1 billion renovation and expansion, Fontainebleau is a spectacular blend of Miami’s glamorous golden era– 1,504 rooms and suites, 20 oceanfront acres, 12 restaurants and nightclubs including three signature restaurants, a 40,000-square-foot spa, and a sophisticated poolscape with private cabanas.

Curves signify leisure, because a curve is the longest, most beautiful distance between two points. Curves stand for change because curves are how we measure change and express it. Curves signify flexibility and adaptability to nature, because nature isn’t rectangular.

Three elaborate chandeliers decorate the Fontainebleau lobby. Designed by Chinese artist Ai WeiWei, consultant for the Beijing Olympics’ Bird’s Nest main stadium, each chandelier is 16 feet in diameter and costs one million dollars. The three chandeliers represent Ai WeiWei’s only permanent installation in the United States and were completed in 2008.

When Lapidus built the infamous 2-story staircase in 1954, it did, in fact lead somewhere… a coat check! Women would ride the elevator up, check their coats, and make a grand entrance into the lobby on their walk down the Staircase to Nowhere.

Morris Lapidus was known for wearing bow-ties his entire adult life. Lapidus embellished the marble lobby floor with a pattern of black bow-ties, which are still seen throughout the hotel today. Additionally, the main pool at Fontainebleau is a modern abstract bow-tie shape in honor of Lapidus.

Every building must have columns to support, and Lapidus knew that if you run the column into a lit hole, the weight disappears and the space seems lighter. The Cheese Wall was added in 1959 and is preserved along the Collins Avenue façade today.