Dolphin Terrace was a prominent waterfront dining terrace located inside the Blue Water Hotel. It overlooked the Intracoastal Waterway. Archives, vintage postcards, and property records from the era reveal other details.
Vintage Postcards & Advertisements
- Waterfront Dining: The hotel had "fifty modern rooms and a waterfront dining terrace"
- Cocktail Lounge: The hotel featured a popular mid-century cocktail lounge.
- Amenities: Advertisements from the 1940s and 1950s highlight the hotel's extensive dock facilities (accessed via the early Fort Lauderdale phone number 6793), inviting guests to arrive directly by boat or canoe.
- Entertainment: From it's opening in 1952, the lounge featured a local singer, Charlie Wardell on the piano and beginning in 1956, the hotel began featuring early-afternoon professional water ski shows along the intracoastal on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Architectural & Mid-Century Design Significance
The Blue Water Hotel is recognized as a notable piece of post-war architectural history. Sources are conflicting as to who designed the the hotel and lounge. Some indicated that it was designed by Charles Foster McKirahan, a highly influential mid-century modern architect who shaped the iconic aesthetic of South Florida (including Fort Lauderdale's famous Mai-Kai Restaurant). Other sources attribute the design to Walter E. Pauley, another notable mid-century modern architect of the era.
The 1957 Transformation
The Blue Water Hotel and the Dolphin Terrace's life as a vacation resort came to an end later in the decade as the property was converted to Fort Lauderdale Beach Hospital in July 1957. Even after its conversion to a hospital, historical accounts note that patients felt like they were at a resort because the building retained its outdoor covered patio, boat dockage, and scenic views of the Intracoastal Waterway.
