Pelican Hotel

Miami Beach

Located at the southernmost point of mainland Florida, Miami is an immense beach resort known for its elegant buildings, palm trees and turquoise water. This multicultural city which has for decades received immigrants from Cuba, Mexico and other Latin American countries, has expanded over the years with urban centers including Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove.

Now a city in its own right, Miami Beach’s Art Deco district is the only one of its kind in the United States to have been awarded the title of National Historical Landmark. Built in the 1930s along the beach, it runs from Lincoln Avenue to Fifth Street and is characterized by its exceptional architecture. Hundreds of hotels, villas and other art deco buildings form a unique ensemble, the biggest quarter of this style in the world.

Initiated in Paris during the 1920s as a reaction to Art Nouveau, the art deco style developed and diversified throughout the world. In Miami its development was inspired by the aerodynamic curves of 1920’s ocean liners and airplanes and is characterized by friezes representing the region’s tropical flora and fauna. It is known as Tropical Art Deco. After falling into disuse and being threatened with destruction, the neighborhood was finally entered into the National Register of Historical Landmarks in 1979 and subsequently renovated. The facades of these original buildings are covered in soft pastel colors. The quarter was given great media coverage thanks to the celebrated television series, Miami Vice and became a very trendy tourist site.

A living myth

Built in 1948 by Henry Hoarser, one of the primary South Beach art deco architects, the Pelican is closer to the Miami Modern or Mimo style than to Tropical Art Deco. This small hotel has preserved its original façade although it was totally overhauled by the renowned Swedish designer, Magnus Ehrland. In cooperation with the owner and founder of the Diesel clothing brand, Ehrland turned it into an eccentric over the top site.

Combining a humorous, kitsch style with careful design, each of the 30 rooms has its own special atmosphere. The décor consists of a mixture of second hand bric-a-brac and antiques, organized by the vivid imagination of this off the wall designer. Each room has a highly improbable name which is perfectly coordinated with the room’s décor. The Psychedelic Girl room for example, has green and yellow psychedelic motifs and disco furniture The Love, Peace and Leafforest room has a soft green and wooded panoramic wall, a giant butterfly and a brightly colored armchair. Ornamental gold and stylized dancing chorus girls are the principal décor of the Viva Las Vegas room and a filtered 19^th century bordello ambience predominates in the very daring Best Whorehouse room.

The suites on the top floor would make a perfect secondary residence for James Bond. As original as the other rooms, one of these terrace apartments has original Schultz chairs, a large aquarium incrusted in a copper wall and an incredible totally round bed in one of the bedrooms.

The restaurant serves excellent Mediterranean cuisine and has become a cult site in South Beach. In addition, the hotel is not far from the beach. Its success however is undoubtedly due to its original, uncompromising and totally unconventional décor which makes this jewel of a hotel unique in the world.

Designer Magnus Ehrland spent seven months at garage sales, second hand merchandise dealers, flea markets and antique shops throughout the state of Florida in order to collect all the furniture and objects he needed for the décor he imagined.