Winter Haven, Autograph Collection

An Ocean Liner Built in Stucco and Chrome

Winter Haven opened on Ocean Drive in the late 1930s, designed by Albert Anis with the nautical lines, porthole-style windows, sweeping curves, horizontal banding, that Art Deco architects borrowed directly from the ocean liners then arriving in Miami. The building reopened under Marriott's Autograph Collection after a renovation that kept its most theatrical original feature: a cruise-ship-style staircase in chrome, descending past a marble-topped, beveled-glass check-in desk salvaged from the 1930s build. Seventy rooms later, the hotel still reads as a period piece brought up to date rather than a new build wearing a vintage theme.

Why It Works

We selected it for how literally it commits to its own theme. Most Art Deco hotels gesture at the style with a paint job and some neon; Winter Haven kept the actual staircase, the actual check-in desk, and built its new interiors, snakeskin chairs, velvet sectionals in green, gold and earth tones, to sit alongside them rather than replace them. The result is a lobby that still looks like it's waiting for a ship to dock outside, which is exactly the point. That commitment extends to the restaurant and rooftop too, so the theme never feels confined to the lobby alone.

Why This Location

1400 Ocean Drive sits on the quieter northern stretch of the strip, beachfront and a short walk from both the busiest café row to the south and Lincoln Road's shopping to the west. It's close enough to Ocean Drive's main scene to reach on foot in minutes, while being removed enough from its loudest block to sleep through the night without the street noise some addresses further south carry. A short rideshare or a ten-minute walk covers the gap either way.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Nautical Art Deco, 1930s lobby details preserved

• Rooms: 70, beachfront

• Best For: Art Deco enthusiasts, travelers who want a rooftop with an ocean view

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the original cruise-ship-style chrome staircase in the lobby

• Dining: Il Bolognese, the Lincoln Road Italian restaurant's Ocean Drive location

• Amenities: 1,600-square-foot rooftop terrace with Atlantic views, beachfront access, 24-hour front desk

• Attractions: Ocean Drive, Lincoln Road, the Art Deco Historic District, the beach

A Cruise-Ship Lobby, Preserved

The lobby's staircase, railed in chrome and built to resemble the grand staircases of the ocean liners the building's architecture references, remains the first thing most guests photograph. It descends past the original marble-topped, beveled-glass check-in desk, a detail the Autograph Collection renovation kept rather than replaced with a standard hotel front desk. Newer furnishings, snakeskin-upholstered chairs, velvet sectionals in green, gold and earth tones, fill in around the original pieces instead of competing with them.

Dinner at Il Bolognese and the Rooftop Terrace

Il Bolognese, the Italian restaurant with a Lincoln Road original, runs the hotel's ground-floor dining, putting a proper kitchen on site rather than a hotel-standard café. Upstairs, a 1,600-square-foot rooftop terrace opens onto panoramic Atlantic views, the kind of vantage point most Ocean Drive hotels of this size don't have room for, a good argument for booking a stay here over a larger beachfront tower with no rooftop at all.

Before You Book

Check-in starts at 4pm and check-out is at 11am, with children welcome throughout. Rooms carry a beveled-mirror theme and wood-and-crocodile-style headboards that match the lobby's 1930s-meets-updated feel, so expect the design language to continue past the ground floor. The rooftop terrace and Il Bolognese are both open to outside guests as well as hotel guests, so a quieter rooftop moment is more likely earlier in the evening.