Congress Hotel

Congress Hotel, 1935
1036 Ocean Drive
Architect: Henry Hohauser (American, 1895–1963)

(Please see image 1)

The bold round shapes of the Congress Hotel’s lettering evoke a machine-age aesthetic, also conveyed by the industrial designer John Vassos on the cover of his book Contempo. The hotel’s architecture, like many in the neighborhood, combines Art Deco’s vertical emphasis, in its ascending central fin, with streamlined horizontal features, such as the projecting “eyebrows” and corner ribbon windows.

Book, Contempo: This American Tempo, 1929
Designer: John Vassos (American, b. Romania, 1898–1985)
Author: Ruth Vassos (American, 1893–1965)
Publisher: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., New York
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, 83.2.833

(Please see image 2)

Introduced at the 1925 Paris exposition, the “frozen fountain” became an Art Deco leitmotif. You can find examples in the bas-relief panels on each side of the entrance of the Congress Hotel, and—on a monumental scale—in The Wolfsonian’s lobby. The Wolfsonian’s frozen fountain was originally on the façade of the Norris Theater, which was demolished in 1983 to make way for a McDonald’s. Architect Mark Hampton chose it as a centerpiece for the museum’s lobby, integrating it into a real fountain.

Window grille, 1929
Glazed terracotta
From the Norris Theatre, Norristown, Pennsylvania
Architects: William Harold Lee (American, 1884–1971) and Armand Carroll (American, 1898–1976)
Manufacturer: Conkling-Armstrong, Philadelphia
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, XX1989.429

The Congress Hotel is a variant of the Colony Hotel, on 736 Ocean Drive, designed by the same architect one year earlier. Look for its neon lettering at night.