The Colony hotel

736 Ocean Drive

Built: 1935

Architect: Henry Hohauser

In July 1935, the Colony Hotel became one of the first streamlined buildings on Ocean Drive, Miami Beach. Designed by architect Henry Hohauser, the hotel marked a shift toward modernist architectural trends in the area. Ocean Drive itself was envisioned as a collection of hotels and apartments catering to middle-class tourists.

The Colony Hotel featured fifty rooms, each with private bathrooms, a rarity at the time. It also included a fireproof basement housing recreation spaces, a card room, locker rooms with bathing facilities, and a rooftop solarium. Notable features included a fireplace in the wine-red lobby and a street-facing writing balcony for guest correspondence. Each room was equipped with a telephone and radio, considered advanced amenities during the Great Depression.

Hohauser incorporated innovative design elements, such as steel corner windows and a neon marquee—a prominent inverted "T" displaying the hotel's name. These features embodied the building’s modernist intent and advertised its progressive identity to passersby.