One of the many things the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach is famous for is its 'spite wall,' a massive wing of hotel rooms and ballroom space built by the hotel's first owner, Ben Novack, allegedly to shroud the neighboring Eden Roc Hotel's pool in darkness. The Eden Roc was built just a few years after the Fontainebleau by a former business partner of Novack to rival the Fontainebleau, who even went so far as to poach Novack's architect, Morris Lapidus, to build it. It was meant to outdo the F-Blue in every sense. Now they're all dead, of course, but the wall remains and has since been matched with a more recent tower built on the former site of that pool at the Eden Roc. The newer Eden Roc tower blocks the ugly view of the Fontainebleau's big blank wall, and creates a canyon down the middle that stretches the entire length of both hotels, from Collins Avenue to the boardwalk on the beach side.
· Best Display of Immaturity by the Privileged [Miami New Times]
· Fontainebleau Hotel coverage [Curbed Miami]
· Eden Roc Hotel coverage [Curbed Miami]
Filed under:
Loading comments...