The Betsy South Beach

by Tony Smyth, 18 November 2010
With a name that harks back to the founding of the United States and its eponymous connection to that most iconic of emblems, the Stars and Stripes, the Betsy Hotel South Beach takes its colonial style queues from the British school – despite the fact that the hotel’s namesake, Betsy Ross, is emblazoned on the façade.
 
Miami’s South Beach is one of the most famous architectural districts in the world, and The Betsy hotel distinguishes itself from the curvy geometric patterns and clean lines of its Art Deco neighbours by relying on classic formations. With its expansive four-column portico and signature shuttered windows, The Betsy evokes traditional colonial architecture. But it was designed and created by the man responsible for the majority of the most famous hotels in the area built in the Art Deco style – L. Murray Dixon.
 
The 150th Anniversary of the USA’s Declaration of Independence in 1926 ushered in a period of nostalgia for the early years of the nation. John D Rockefeller’s restoration of Colonial Williamsburg was a prime case in point. Completed in the 1930s, it served as a catalyst for other historic preservation efforts around the country. The past was renovated and gussied up, perhaps to magnify it as a way of renewing the faith of Americans struggling to emerge from the Great Depression. Everything from restaurants to furniture was re-created in a colonial image and Hollywood provided its powerful endorsement of the colonial style by featuring it as the signature architectural style of suburban homes in such popular films as Bringing Up Baby.
 
Also, at that time, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) created a printed guide to the ’colonial east,’ which included images and photographs emphasising architecture from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Complementing the series were numerous magazine articles that included plans from architects and building companies and an explosion of popular and professional books honouring colonial architecture. When Dixon got around to considering how best to embrace the colonial chic of the moment, perhaps he couldn’t resist the urge to go further. Opened in South Beach in 1942, The Betsy Hotel Ross stood out all the more for its stark yet graceful contrast to Dixon’s Art Deco oeuvre.
 

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