Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel is a luxury hotel
in Coral Gables
, Florida
, United States
. It was designed by Schultze and Weaver
and was built in 1926 by John McEntee Bowman
and George Merrick as part of the Biltmore hotel
chain.
The Miami-Biltmore Hotel & Country Club was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1996.
It served as a hospital during World War II
and as a VA Hospital and campus of the University of Miami
medical school until 1968. It became a hotel again in 1987 managed by the Seaway Hotels Corporation.
There are some reports that claim this hotel to be haunted, most often by the spirit of Thomas Walsh
.
When completed, it was the tallest building in Florida, surpassing the Freedom Tower
in Downtown Miami
. It was surpassed in 1928 by the Dade County Courthouse, also in Downtown Miami.
At one time the pool was the largest pool in the world and among the many attractions was swimming instructor (and later Tarzan actor) Johnny Weissmuller
.
The hotel has been used as a setting for the movie Bad Boys
and television programs like CSI: Miami
and Miami Vice
. The hotel was also a major setting for Ken Wiederhorn
's 1977 cult horror film Shock Waves, starring John Carradine
and Peter Cushing
. The film was shot at a time when the hotel was in a state of abandoned disrepair, and featured long camera shots and eerily shot angles.
Currently, the acclaimed GableStage Theater operates out of the Biltmore Hotel. It is owned and managed by Joseph Adler
.
also founded the University of Miami
, and developed the suburbs with strict building codes to ensure the beautiful surroundings. Coral Gables is a largely residential, affluent area graced with broad, planted boulevards, golf courses, and country clubs. Stately Mediterranean homes, Banyan trees, and tropical foliage line its quiet streets. The thriving business district is also home to over 150 multinational companies and multinational headquarters.
In 1925, young Merrick joined forces with Biltmore hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman
at the height of the Florida land boom to build "a great hotel...which would not only serve as a hostelry to the crowds which were thronging to Coral Gables but also would serve as a center of sports and fashion." In January 1926, ten months and $10 million dollars later, The Biltmore debuted with a magnificent inaugural that brought people down from northern cities on trains marked "Miami Biltmore Specials." The Giralda
-inspired Tower was lit for the first time and the champagne corks popped as the guests fox-trotted to the sounds of jazz, all in celebration of the birth of The Biltmore.
In its heyday, The Biltmore played host to royalty, both Europe's and Hollywood's. The hotel counted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Ginger Rogers
, Judy Garland
, Bing Crosby
, Al Capone
and assorted Roosevelts and Vanderbilts as frequent guests. Franklin D. Roosevelt
had a temporary White House office set up at the Hotel for when he vacationed
on his fishing trips from Miami. There were many gala balls, aquatic shows by the grand pool and weddings were de rigueur as were world class golf tournaments. A product of the Jazz Age
, big bands entertained wealthy, well-traveled visitors to this American Riviera resort.
The Biltmore made it through the nation's economic lulls in the late 1920s and early 1930s by hosting aquatic galas that kept the hotel in the spotlight and drew the crowds. As many as three thousand would come out on a Sunday afternoon to watch the synchronized swimmers, bathing beauties, alligator wrestling and the young Jackie Ott, the boy wonder who would dive from an eighty-five foot platform. Johnny Weissmuller
, prior to his tree-swinging days in Hollywood, broke the world record at the Biltmore pool and was a swimming instructor. Families would attend the shows and many would dress up and go tea dancing afterwards on the hotel's grand terrace to the sounds of swinging orchestras.
But with the onset of World War II
, the War Department converted The Biltmore to a hospital. It served the wounded as the Army Air Forces Regional Hospital. Many of the windows were sealed with concrete, and the marble floors covered with Government Issue linoleum. Also the early site of The University of Miami's School of Medicine, The Biltmore remained a VA hospital until 1968.
In 1973, through the Historic Monuments Act and Legacy of Parks program, the City of Coral Gables was granted ownership control of The Biltmore. Undecided as to the structure's future, The Biltmore remained unoccupied for almost 10 years. Then in 1983, the City oversaw its full restoration to be opened as a grand hotel. Almost four years and $55 million later, The Biltmore opened on December 31, 1987 as a first class hotel and resort. Over 600 guests turned out to honor the historic Biltmore at a black tie affair.
In June 1992, a multinational consortium led by Seaway Hotels Corporation, a Florida hotel management company, officially became the new operators of the Biltmore under a long term management lease with the City of Coral Gables, and again made significant refurbishments to the property.
Seaway invested in new lighting and telephone systems, computer systems throughout, repairs to the pool, furnishings, a complete guestroom renovation program and also remodeled a space into a state-of-the-art health club and spa. At the 1926 gala opening of the Miami Biltmore Country Club, Dr. Frank Crane predicted that "many people will come and go, but this structure will remain a thing of lasting beauty." He was right and in 1996, the hotel celebrated yet another milestone in its illustrious history—the 70th anniversary of this grand South Florida monument and an official designation by the Federal Government as a National Historic Landmark
, an elite title offered to only 3% of all historic structures on the National Register of Historic Places.
In February 2009 the Biltmore opened its very own Culinary Academy. The Biltmore Culinary Academy is a recreational hands-on cooking school with classes for adults and children taught by the hotel’s chefs. The 3-hour signature hands-on class holds up to eight students and finishes with a meal made up of recipes made in class.
Reopened in November, 2007 following a $5 million investment, the resort’s Donald
Ross-designed course was restored and updated by noted architect Brian Silva. The
original 1925 routing was retained, but all greens, tees and bunkers were reconstructed
and grassed to contemporary standards. Course drainage was improved and a new irrigation system was installed.
The course Casuarina grove is home to a colony of Lilac-crowned (Amazona viridigenalis) and red-crowned parrots (Amazona finschi).
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
in Coral Gables
Coral Gables, Florida
Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, southwest of Downtown Miami, in the United States. The city is home to the University of Miami....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was designed by Schultze and Weaver
Schultze and Weaver
The architectural firm of Schultze and Weaver was established in New York City in 1921. The partners were Leonard Schultze and S. Fullerton Weaver.Leonard B. Schultze was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1877...
and was built in 1926 by John McEntee Bowman
John McEntee Bowman
John McEntee Bowman was an Canadian-born businessman and an American hotelier and horseman who was the founding president of Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corp....
and George Merrick as part of the Biltmore hotel
Biltmore Hotel
Bowman-Biltmore Hotels was a chain created by hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman.The name evokes the Vanderbilt family's Biltmore Estate, whose buildings and gardens within are privately owned historical landmarks and tourist attractions in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. The name has...
chain.
The Miami-Biltmore Hotel & Country Club was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1996.
It served as a hospital during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and as a VA Hospital and campus of the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
medical school until 1968. It became a hotel again in 1987 managed by the Seaway Hotels Corporation.
There are some reports that claim this hotel to be haunted, most often by the spirit of Thomas Walsh
Thomas Walsh (mobster)
Thomas "Fatty" Walsh was a New York mobster involved in narcotics and an associate of Dutch Schultz and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. He was taken in for questioning along with Luciano and George Uffner regarding the 1928 gangland slaying of Arnold Rothstein, of whom he was a former bodyguard with Jack...
.
When completed, it was the tallest building in Florida, surpassing the Freedom Tower
Freedom Tower (Miami)
The Freedom Tower is a building in Miami, Florida, designed by Schultze and Weaver. It is used currently as a memorial to Cuban immigration to the United States. It is located at 600 Biscayne Boulevard on the Wolfson Campus of Miami Dade College. On September 10, 1979, it was added to the U.S....
in Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami is an urban residential neighborhood, and the central business district of Miami, Miami-Dade County, and South Florida in the United States...
. It was surpassed in 1928 by the Dade County Courthouse, also in Downtown Miami.
At one time the pool was the largest pool in the world and among the many attractions was swimming instructor (and later Tarzan actor) Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
.
The hotel has been used as a setting for the movie Bad Boys
Bad Boys (1995 film)
Bad Boys is a 1995 American action comedy film directed by Michael Bay in his directorial debut, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer...
and television programs like CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
and Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
. The hotel was also a major setting for Ken Wiederhorn
Ken Wiederhorn
Ken Wiederhorn is a film and television director, known mainly for the horror films Shock Waves and Return of the Living Dead Part II. Other features include Eyes of A Stranger, Meatballs II, and A House In The Hills. He also directed multiple episodes of 21 Jump Street, Dark Justice, and...
's 1977 cult horror film Shock Waves, starring John Carradine
John Carradine
John Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
and Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
. The film was shot at a time when the hotel was in a state of abandoned disrepair, and featured long camera shots and eerily shot angles.
Currently, the acclaimed GableStage Theater operates out of the Biltmore Hotel. It is owned and managed by Joseph Adler
Joseph Adler
Joseph Adler is a Miami, Florida based theatre and film director. He was born in Brooklyn, New York but has lived most of his life in Miami. Adler studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and graduated from the Film Department at New York University. Adler was married to Joan...
.
History
As the creator of Coral Gables, land developer George E. MerrickGeorge E. Merrick
George Edgar Merrick was a real estate developer who is best known as the planner and builder of the city of Coral Gables, Florida in the 1920s, one of the first planned communities in the United States ....
also founded the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
, and developed the suburbs with strict building codes to ensure the beautiful surroundings. Coral Gables is a largely residential, affluent area graced with broad, planted boulevards, golf courses, and country clubs. Stately Mediterranean homes, Banyan trees, and tropical foliage line its quiet streets. The thriving business district is also home to over 150 multinational companies and multinational headquarters.
In 1925, young Merrick joined forces with Biltmore hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman
John McEntee Bowman
John McEntee Bowman was an Canadian-born businessman and an American hotelier and horseman who was the founding president of Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corp....
at the height of the Florida land boom to build "a great hotel...which would not only serve as a hostelry to the crowds which were thronging to Coral Gables but also would serve as a center of sports and fashion." In January 1926, ten months and $10 million dollars later, The Biltmore debuted with a magnificent inaugural that brought people down from northern cities on trains marked "Miami Biltmore Specials." The Giralda
Giralda
thumb|right|The Giralda at its various stages of construction: Almohad , Medieval Christian , and Renaissance .The Giralda is a former minaret that was converted to a bell tower for the Cathedral of Seville in Seville...
-inspired Tower was lit for the first time and the champagne corks popped as the guests fox-trotted to the sounds of jazz, all in celebration of the birth of The Biltmore.
In its heyday, The Biltmore played host to royalty, both Europe's and Hollywood's. The hotel counted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
and assorted Roosevelts and Vanderbilts as frequent guests. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
had a temporary White House office set up at the Hotel for when he vacationed
on his fishing trips from Miami. There were many gala balls, aquatic shows by the grand pool and weddings were de rigueur as were world class golf tournaments. A product of the Jazz Age
Jazz Age
The Jazz Age was a movement that took place during the 1920s or the Roaring Twenties from which jazz music and dance emerged. The movement came about with the introduction of mainstream radio and the end of the war. This era ended in the 1930s with the beginning of The Great Depression but has...
, big bands entertained wealthy, well-traveled visitors to this American Riviera resort.
The Biltmore made it through the nation's economic lulls in the late 1920s and early 1930s by hosting aquatic galas that kept the hotel in the spotlight and drew the crowds. As many as three thousand would come out on a Sunday afternoon to watch the synchronized swimmers, bathing beauties, alligator wrestling and the young Jackie Ott, the boy wonder who would dive from an eighty-five foot platform. Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
, prior to his tree-swinging days in Hollywood, broke the world record at the Biltmore pool and was a swimming instructor. Families would attend the shows and many would dress up and go tea dancing afterwards on the hotel's grand terrace to the sounds of swinging orchestras.
But with the onset of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the War Department converted The Biltmore to a hospital. It served the wounded as the Army Air Forces Regional Hospital. Many of the windows were sealed with concrete, and the marble floors covered with Government Issue linoleum. Also the early site of The University of Miami's School of Medicine, The Biltmore remained a VA hospital until 1968.
In 1973, through the Historic Monuments Act and Legacy of Parks program, the City of Coral Gables was granted ownership control of The Biltmore. Undecided as to the structure's future, The Biltmore remained unoccupied for almost 10 years. Then in 1983, the City oversaw its full restoration to be opened as a grand hotel. Almost four years and $55 million later, The Biltmore opened on December 31, 1987 as a first class hotel and resort. Over 600 guests turned out to honor the historic Biltmore at a black tie affair.
In June 1992, a multinational consortium led by Seaway Hotels Corporation, a Florida hotel management company, officially became the new operators of the Biltmore under a long term management lease with the City of Coral Gables, and again made significant refurbishments to the property.
Seaway invested in new lighting and telephone systems, computer systems throughout, repairs to the pool, furnishings, a complete guestroom renovation program and also remodeled a space into a state-of-the-art health club and spa. At the 1926 gala opening of the Miami Biltmore Country Club, Dr. Frank Crane predicted that "many people will come and go, but this structure will remain a thing of lasting beauty." He was right and in 1996, the hotel celebrated yet another milestone in its illustrious history—the 70th anniversary of this grand South Florida monument and an official designation by the Federal Government as a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
, an elite title offered to only 3% of all historic structures on the National Register of Historic Places.
In February 2009 the Biltmore opened its very own Culinary Academy. The Biltmore Culinary Academy is a recreational hands-on cooking school with classes for adults and children taught by the hotel’s chefs. The 3-hour signature hands-on class holds up to eight students and finishes with a meal made up of recipes made in class.
Golf
The Biltmore is surrounded by the Biltmore Golf Course, an 18-hole, par 71, championship course designed by Donald Ross. Amenities include a full practice facility, private instruction, and pro shop.Reopened in November, 2007 following a $5 million investment, the resort’s Donald
Ross-designed course was restored and updated by noted architect Brian Silva. The
original 1925 routing was retained, but all greens, tees and bunkers were reconstructed
and grassed to contemporary standards. Course drainage was improved and a new irrigation system was installed.
The course Casuarina grove is home to a colony of Lilac-crowned (Amazona viridigenalis) and red-crowned parrots (Amazona finschi).