Breakers Hotel

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name = The Breakers Hotel


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location = Palm Beach, Florida
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lat_direction = N
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long_direction = W
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built = 1925cite web|url=http://www.flheritage.com/services/sites/fht/record_t.cfm?ID=672&type=c&index=50|title=The Breakers|date=2007-02-28|work=Florida Heritage Tourism Interactive Catalog|publisher=Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs]
architect = Schultze & Weaver
architecture = Renaissance Revival
added = August 14, 1973
refnum = 73000598cite web|url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/FL/Palm+Beach/state.html|title=National Register of Historical Places - Florida (FL), Palm Beach County|date=2007-02-28|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
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governing_body = Private

The Breakers Hotel is an historic hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, United States. First known as The Palm Beach Inn, it was opened on January 16, 1896 by Henry Flagler, an oil, real estate and railroad tycoon, to accommodate travelers on his Florida East Coast Railway. It occupied the beachfront portion of the grounds of the Royal Poinciana Hotel, which Flagler had opened beside Lake Worth in 1894. But because guests began requesting rooms "over by the breakers," Flagler renamed it The Breakers in 1901. The wooden hotel burned on June 9, 1903 and was rebuilt, opening on February 1, 1904. Rooms started at $4.00 a night, including 3 meals a day. Because Flagler forbid motorized vehicles on the property, patrons were delivered between the two hotels in wheeled chairs powered by employees. The grounds featured a 9-hole golf course.

But on March 18, 1925, The Breakers burned again, the fire started by an electric curling iron left on. The architectural firm of Schultze & Weaver modeled its 550-room replacement after the Villa Medici in Rome, this time abandoning wooden construction for fireproof concrete. Built by 1,200 construction workers, the hotel reopened on December 29, 1926 to considerable acclaim. Today, the international elite continues to commingle in its 200 foot main lobby and across its 140 acres (57 hectares), located beside the Atlantic Ocean.

The hotel is located at South County Road. On August 14, 1973, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

References

* [http://www.thebreakers.com/about_the_breakers/history/ History of The Breakers]
* "Florida", DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, 2004, pg. 119

External links

* [http://www.thebreakers.com/ The Breakers Hotel]
* [http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=ListAreas&county=palm%20beach Palm Beach County listings] , Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs
* [http://members.forbes.com/fyi/2006/0424/126.html "It's De Limit"] Forbes article by Finn-Olaf Jones on The Breakers' architects Schultze & Weaver, April 24, 2006
* [http://www.thebreakers.com/press_room/current_press_releases/index.cfm?task=detail&id=PR_030623_06171693_WNW17 The Breakers Historical Timeline]