Purchased by Rubell Hotels in 1998, the 1950s beachfront resort opened in October 1999 after a sweeping multi-million-dollar renovation led by Scott Sanders of the POLO Ralph Lauren residential design team.  "The Beach House is about total comfort and relaxation, but also a kind of low-key luxury," explains Jason Rubell, "The Ralph Lauren style is the embodiment of that feeling."

Instead of a classic grand hotel lobby, the public spaces of the Beach House are divided into a series of intimate home-like environments.  The Screened-In Porch, furnished with turn-of the-century wicker antiques (handpicked by Sanders and Jennifer Rubell during a field trip to Kennebunkport, Maine), feels like the funky front porch of a daffy aunt's summer cottage.  The Asian-inspired Bamboo Room, with its overstuffed Ralph Lauren leather couches and Japanese bric-a-brac, provides the perfect setting for evening book readings and rainy-day games of backgammon and Parcheesi.  The Seahorse Bar, named after a giant fish tank filled with live seahorses, has the intimate, whimsical feeling of a decadent collector's private den.  The Pantry, inspired by the Sagaponack General Store around the corner from the Rubells' Long Island summer home, is chock-a-block with all the cosmopolitan needs of an unplugged urban clientele.  And, the 200-seat indoor-outdoor oceanfront Atlantic restaurant is a constant reminder that after all, this is no ordinary family home by the sea.

Sheila Lukins, nationally acclaimed chef, cookbook author (The Silver Palate, USA Cookbook, The New Basics, Around the World), food editor (Parade magazine), teacher and writer, is the Beach House's Food Guru, creating menus and recipes for all things edible throughout the Beach House compound.  "This is the kind of food you make at home if you're a really good cook with a great big home on the ocean, a bunch of close friends visiting you for the weekend, and plenty of time on your hands," explains Jennifer Rubell.  The Beach House will mark the first time that Lukins' acclaimed style of home cooking will be available in a hotel or restaurant.

On the five floors above all this homespun luxury, the ultra-spacious guestrooms are oases of overstuffed comfort, decorated with whitewashed wood wainscoting and handpicked furnishings from the Ralph Lauren collection.  "The idea of the Beach House is to make guests feel as if the room they live in is their own bedroom.  Everything is there to give guests a sense of belonging, from a refrigerator that guests stock themselves with goodies from The Pantry, to a collecting vase for seashells found at the shore, to a little bottle of swimsuit wash in the bathroom," explains Jennifer Rubell, "The room is theirs, not ours."
 

In-Room  Ralph Lauren furnishings and linens; cucumber-scented Rubell Hotels Amenities bath essentials; remote - control color cable television; alarm clock; electronic safe; AM-FM stereo with CD player; refrigerators with stocking service; in-room movies and games; two-line telephones with voice mail and portable extensions; desktop modem link; iron and ironing board; hairdryer and spa-style bathrobes.  Management - Rubell Hotels � Mera, Don, Jennifer and Jason Rubell General Manager � Peter H. Heinen Corporate Sales Manager -- Leigh Sperber

Beach House Bal Harbour 165  Rooms & Suites 9449 Collins Avenue  on the Atlantic Ocean,  Surfside, Florida 33154

Every guestroom is also equipped with in-room movies, a Sony Playstation, cable internet access with remote keyboards, faxes and VCRs on demand, private safes, T1 modem access, direct dial cordless phones, irons and ironing boards, hairdryers, alarm clocks and am/fm stereo cd players.
 

Downstairs, life at the Beach House is as scheduled or subdued as a guest's mood dictates.  Outdoor facilities include a 200-foot private beach, a Gilligan's Island-style hammock grove, whimsical ocean-themed topiary garden, tented oceanfront ballroom, heated competition swimming pool surrounded by Medjool Date Palms, and full-service poolside spa with oceanic body treatments.  Inside, amenities include a state-of-the-art gym, high-tech business center, and meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 150 guests.

For guests in need of additional stimulation, scheduled activities include performances by up-and-coming musicians in the Bamboo Room, wine tastings led by guest winemakers and sommeliers, cooking classes by celebrity chefs and cookbook authors in the Eat-In kitchen, yoga on the beach, and Saturday night clambakes in the oceanfront hammock grove.  For children, seashell collecting excursions and cookie-baking classes are highlights of the hotel's Playhouse Program.

Additionally, guests of the Beach House have an open invitation to the Rubell family's internationally acclaimed contemporary art collection, located nearby in a 40,000 square-foot former Drug Enforcement Agency warehouse.  The heralded collection, which includes major works by such icons as Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Chris Ofili, Charles Ray and Cindy Sherman, available to guests for private guided tours with the collection's curatorial staff.

Throughout the hotel, signature Rubell touches abound, including a jar of chocolate chip cookies at the front desk, lollipops and inspirational notes left on guests' pillows at turndown, and a bedside copy of Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat.

Beach House Bal Harbour is located directly on the beach and around the corner from the luxe Bal Harbour Shops - including Gucci, Prada, Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman-Marcus, among others - that easily rival those on Rodeo Drive and Madison Avenue.  Minutes away is South Beach and Lincoln Road, home of the cutting-edge Alliance Cinema along with the brand new 18-screen Regal Cinemas, the popular New World Symphony and some of Miami's hottest restaurants, boutiques and art galleries.

Rubell Hotels develops and manages architecturally significant hotel and commercial properties including the Albion and Greenview Hotels in Miami Beach, the landmark Sony Music Building on Lincoln Road (Miami Beach) and the Albion office/retail complex.  Plans are underway to open a Rubell Hotel in Washington, D.C. in the coming year.