Second largest hotel in 1937 Fort Lauderdale now a ...

Lauderdale Beach Hotel 1947 
State of Florida Archives/Florida Memory

Lauderdale Beach Hotel
101 Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316

By Jane Feehan

Built in 1937, the Lauderdale Beach Hotel was one of the two largest hotels in Broward County when the U.S. entered World War II (the other was the *Tradewinds Hotel).  The 500-room Lauderdale Beach Hotel, the Tradewinds, the Edmar apartments and adjacent beach were taken over by the U.S. Navy August 1, 1943. They were used as a navy radar training school until the winter of 1945 when they were released to civilian trade.

Today, only the front part of the Lauderdale Beach Hotel remains, occupied by the H2O Cafe and attached via a garage to the upscale Las Olas Club condominium. The hotel with its distinct architecture, a vestige of the 1930s art deco or art moderne style was partially rescued by preservationists when condo developers bought the property. A condition of development was to leave the distinctive facade of the old structure intact.

The Las Olas Club was built behind and attached to the old Lauderdale Beach Hotel in 2007. Condos there range from $799,000 to about $4 million (about $540 a square foot) – quite a change for the old Fort Lauderdale landmark, site of so many special occasions, conventions and vacations since 1937.

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Sources:

Miami News, Aug. 19, 1945

Miami News, May 18, 1943

http://blogsouthflorida.com/south-florida-oceanfront-condos/Las-Olas-Beach-Club

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s