South Florida Luxury Resorts, Vacation Spots & Historic Hotels





The illustrious history of this vibrant South Florida luxury resort explains why the Boca Raton Resort & Club has achieved such monumental longevity and renowned when so many others have simply vanished into the past. 1918. Addison Mizner came from the North as a self-taught architect. He and friend Paris Singer - heir to the sewing machine fortune - planned a convalescent facility for wounded officers returning from World War I. With Singer's money and Mizner's architectural skills, the pair built the swank Everglades Club in Palm Beach. The architect then ventured south of Palm Beach to discover Boca Raton, and there he decided his future lay. He and his brother, Wilson, formed the Mizner Development Corporation. The company acquired 17,500 acres of Boca Raton property, and Mizner set out to create the "greatest resort in the world." 1926. The Cloister Inn opened its doors at a cost of $1.25 million, the most expensive 100-room hotel ever built at the time. Mizner designed an elegant structure in an imaginative, pseudo-Spanish style with courtyards - and furnished it with his private collection of rare antiques from old churches and universities in Spain and Central America. The ambiance of this luxury resort in Florida quickly attracted royalty, Wall Street wealth, movie stars, and the ranking hierarchy of the international social set - including General T. Coleman du Pont, Harold Vanderbilt, George Whitney, Florenz Ziegfeld, Al Jolson, Elizabeth Arden, and Marie Dressler. However, the glory of The Cloister Inn lasted just one season. By the time it opened in February 1926, Florida's land boom was already faltering. The Depression loomed on the horizon, a railroad embargo impeded the delivery of constructed materials, and investors were becoming skeptical of fraudulent developers. Mizner's investors became apprehensive, began to withdraw their support, and demanded the reorganization of Mizner Development Corporation. In July, management of the company was taken over by Chicago-based Central Equities Corporation, which was run by Rufus Dawes and his brother, U.S. Vice President Charles Dawes. The Dawes brothers were unable to rescue the company from bankruptcy, and the Mizner Development Corporation succumbed - dealing the final blow to Addison's dream of making Boca Raton the "greatest resort in the world." 1928. Clarence Geist - a one-time railway brakeman from Indiana who made a fortune in utilities, and one of the original investors in the Mizner Development Corporation - successfully bid on the assets of the failed corporation. His plan was to carry on the Mizner development, though in an adjusted form. Geist hired golf course architects, Toomey and Flynn, to reconstruct the hotel's two courses and proceeded to greatly expand the Cloister Inn. Two years and $8 million later, the Cloister Inn re-opened as the Boca Raton Club, one of the world's finest "gentlemen's clubs." Although never financially profitable, an exclusive membership kept the Club flourishing. Private railroad cars and yachts brought in such notables as Herbert Hoover, several duPonts, Jacob Raskob, and many other celebrities. Geist subsidized the perennial Club deficit throughout the Depression and even after his death, by which time the property had grown to four times its original size. 1942. The government commandeered the Boca Raton Club. A World War II service roster replaced the guest book, the ornate pillars and carved plaster pieces were padded, and elaborate furnishings were stored away to make room for G.I. bunks. The few hundred Army Air Corps officers housed there were from the radar training school built at the Boca Raton Air Field. They referred to their quarters as the "most elegant barracks in history." 1945. After the war, hotel, theater, and real estate magnate J. Myer Schine bought the resort for a paltry $3 million. Completely refurbished and modernized, the Club re-opened as the Boca Raton Hotel and Club and became extremely popular. An article in a 1947 Saturday Evening Post issue stated: "If you were looking for the prodigal public spot on the globe, there is little argument that you need go no further than the Boca Raton Hotel and Club." 1956. The resort's promising future was secured when Arthur Vining Davis, one of the founders of ALCOA, bought the property from Schine for $22.5 million. At the time, it was the biggest real estate deal in Florida history. 1983. The resort was purchased by VMS Realty Partners and the Boca Raton Hotel and Club Limited Partnership. 1993. Boca Raton Management Company (BRMC) replaced VMS as the general partner for the Resort & Club. 1997. The Boca Raton Resort & Club was purchased by H. Wayne Huizenga and Florida Panthers Holdings, Inc. for $325 million. 2005. The Resort was purchased by the Blackstone Group and under the guidance of this new ownership, the entire property has been reborn. Extensive renovations and improvements led by world-renowned interior designers and architects have combined the charm and character of Mizner's vision with the modern amenities and design sensibilities to open a new chapter in the history of this legendary resort. Click here for more about South Florida Events & Activities hosted at this Distinguished Resort. Discover the new Boca Raton Resort & Club – offering a fresh, visionary approach to hospitality in a timeless setting, with infinite possibilities. Book your South Florida luxury resort vacation online today for our Best Rate Guarantee. Click here for more Features & Services at this Renowned Boca Hotel Resort.