National Hotel

skyscraper
art-deco
FL
Miami

About the National Hotel in Miami
Architect and team
Architectureal style
Spaces and uses
Structure and materials

The National Hotel is an Art-deco skyscraper designed by Roy France and built between 1939 and 1940 in Miami, FL.

National Hotel is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The National Hotel is also known, or has been known as, The National Hotel, or National Hotel Miami Beach.

Its precise street address is 1677 Collins Avenue, Miami, FL. You can also find it on the map here.

The building has been restored 2 times over the years to ensure its conservation and adaptation to the pass of time. The main restoration works happened in 2010 and 2022.

Building's timeline

Construction begins

1939

Construction completed

1940

Restoration

2010

Restoration

2022

years ago

2024

2010 - A full $12 million renovation restoring the guest rooms, meeting and public spaces, modernizing the finishes and restoring the hotel to its original appeal. Exterior modifications included revision of structure and stucco, repair of balconies and replacement of some windows. The architect in charge was Kobi Karp Architecture.
2021 to 2022 - During the COVID pandemic, the hotel closed for a year to renovate the rooms, adopting an adults-only policy (21 and up).

Architect and team

Roy France was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

Roy France was in charge of the architectural design, however, architecture is a complex discipline, which usually involves many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Tamara de Lempicka as the collaborating Artist.

Architectural Style

The National Hotel can be categorized as an Art-deco building.

The Art Deco movement flourished during the 1920s and 1930s, with many historians marking the outbreak of World War II as its final decline. Even though a couple of decades might not seem as much, the Art Deco movement had a great impact on architecture, and it's widely represented in many American cities due to the development boom that happened during that time.

Art Deco marked the abandonment of traditional historicism and the embracement of modern living and the age of the machine. In architecture, that meant leaving behind the ornaments of Beux-Arts and Neo-Gothic buildings and instead favoring simplicity and visual impact through geometric shapes, clean lines, and symmetrical designs. Ornaments were still an important part of the design, but they became bold and lavish, and were often inspired by ancient cultures or industrial imagery, instead of nature.

Spaces & Uses

It has a total of 14 floors, 11 above ground and 3 basements.

Ever since opening its doors to the public in 1940, the National Hotel has mainly been used as Hotel space.

About the Hotel

The hotel is a 4 stars category hotel, with a total of 101 rooms available to the public. The name of the hotel is National Hotel.

Materials & Structure

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a simple Art Deco style characterized by the stepped facade as you reach the upper floors. Over the central bay, there is a distinctive square dome crowned by a silver sphere where the hotel's flagpole is installed. The central spandrels are adorned with a linear vertical relief that repeats itself above the last window, leading up to the base of the dome. A wide canopy that spans two floors protects the main entrance.

Other materials found at the National Hotel include, white tiles, found in the bath room with a bathtub-shower combo, light gray terrazzo, used on the rooms' floors, and marble, used in lobby's floor.