Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau looked like that? See how the landmark hotel has changed
Miami Herald Archive
·1 min read
The Fontainebleau is changing again.
This time, the iconic Miami Beach hotel is adding a convention center that’s expected to be finished in November. The new five-story space next to the hotel is being built to accommodate about 1,000 people.
Over the years, the resort has built a new tower, added and destroyed a mural, remade the pool area.
But the original curves and MiMo designs are what makes this one of the most recognized buildings in the world.
What did the Fontainebleau look like in the early years?
Let’s time-travel through the Miami Herald photo archives to take a look:
Fontainebleau hotel construction
Fontainebleau Hotel under construction in the 1950s, with the Firestone Estate in foreground.
A worker during construction.
The rising Fontainebleau in 1954.
The old Firestone estate was used as a construction office by the Fontainebleau before it was demolished to make way for the pool and gardens
Under construction in the 1950s.
The Fontainebleau pool
In 2003, Cookie the Octapus at the Fontainebleau.
Todd Rosenberg, right, and his 3 1/2 year old son Rylan, of Boca, vacation at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach in December 2009. Rosenberg said he loved it because he had the pool to himself. Last night he and his wife ate in the hotel restaurant and were the only ones there.
In 2010, 12-year-old Amanda Blanco of West Kendall jumps in the pool, while staying at the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach with the Flores families who are taking a short vacation across town.
In 1983, Bob Dugan cools his winning feet in the Fontainebleau Hilton pool after clocking a 48 minute 32 second time in the Fifth Annual Electric Island Run.
The hallmark of the renovated Fontainebleau Hilton -- the 18,000-square-foot, 368,000-gallon free-form swimming pool, featuring a huge rock grotto and cascading waterfalls.
Another view of the rebuilt pool and rock grotto.
The pool area in 1978.
The Fontainebleau mural
In 1997, the landmark mural on the wlal of a building that creates an illusion of looking through an arch to the hotel beyond. A group protested at the base of the mural to protest its removal to make way for a new hotel tower.
The mural in 1997.
Inside the Fontainebleau
A bar area at the Fontainebleau Hilton Hotel.
In 1987, Gilbert Samuda, of Crystal Maintenance, cleans a chandelier in the Louis Phillipe room of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. The yearly cleaning takes seven nights.
A room at the hotel.
The lobby floor.
Weary hotel dwellers nap in Fontainebleau lobby after Hurricane Cleo in 1964.
Outside the Fontainebleau
The Fontainebleau as seen from Indian Creek accross Collins Avenue.
In 1976, a fire at the Fontainebleau Hilton.
Workers at the hotel grounds.
The spirit of Miami Beach docked in front of the Fontainebleau Hotel in 1987.
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