WInterhaven Hotel
Winterhaven is a nice combination of Deco architectural flair and interior touches, along with reasonable rates for the budget-minded seeking to base themselves right along Ocean Drive. The small front entrance and patio opens up into a long and spacious lobby that features marble inlaid floors, comfortable and stylish retro furnishing, and large potted plants. The color scheme of dark rust reds, greens, yellows and creams evokes the early Winterhaven ambience. The wood and chrome circular martini bar transforms into a serving area for continental breakfasts in the morning. We also liked the small mezzanine level that skirts the front sides of the lobby, with its window views of the shoreline and intimate, secluded seating.
The rooms:
Our room was up on the sixth floor, a corner location with spectacular views across the beach and out across the Atlantic. The furnishings had that Forties feel to it with blonde woods, rounded corners to edges, and lighting sconces that deliver muted light. There's a similar color scheme to the lobby with pale yellow, green and cinammon tones on walls, headboards, carpets and fabrics. An interesting feature is the black-and-white wood-framed photography crisply evokes some of the more glamorous moments in this particular stretch of South Beach’s original era of grand class travel. While most fixtures and furnishings are just nice enough replicas, the curving walls in the small entrance hall are a real enough structural legacy of the Winterhaven’s past.
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Winterhaven Hotel - 1400 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach; Tel: (800) 395-2322