Essex House Hotel

Essex Hotel, 1938
1001 Collins Avenue
Architect: Henry Hohauser (American, 1895–1963)

(Please see image 1)

While at the Essex, step onto the front terrace and look down. Terrazzo is a composite material made of marble, glass, and quartz chips mixed with a cement binder. Different groupings and colors of chips allow a designer to create a pattern in the terrazzo, such as the shapes and words embedded in terrazzo floors and hotels throughout South Beach. The pattern on the Essex Hotel terrace, like the cover of the catalog A Century of Progress Homes and Furnishings, uses geometric shapes and diagonal lines to give a sense of speed and direction. The catalog was published in conjunction with the 1933 Century of Progress exposition in Chicago, which inspired much of South Beach’s architecture.

Radio, Sparton, model 558-C, 1937
Glass, brass, wood, Bakelite
Designer: Walter Dorwin Teague (American, 1883–1960)
Manufacturer: Sparton Corporation, Jackson, Michigan
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, XX1990.1484

(Please see image 2)

While at the Essex, step onto the front terrace and look down. Terrazzo is a composite material made of marble, glass, and quartz chips mixed with a cement binder. Different groupings and colors of chips allow a designer to create a pattern in the terrazzo, such as the shapes and words embedded in terrazzo floors and hotels throughout South Beach. The pattern on the Essex Hotel terrace, like the cover of the catalog A Century of Progress Homes and Furnishings, uses geometric shapes and diagonal lines to give a sense of speed and direction. The catalog was published in conjunction with the 1933 Century of Progress exposition in Chicago, which inspired much of South Beach’s architecture.

Catalog, A Century of Progress Homes and Furnishings, c. 1934
Editor: Dorothy Raley
Publisher: M. A. Ring Company, Chicago
The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, 83.2.1093