Manufacturer: Shenango China
User: The Shore Club
Distributor: Nathan Straus – Duparquet
Date of examples: circa 1940s

The Cromwell Hotel

The Cromwell Hotel postcard showing part of the Shore Club

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Notes: N.B.T. Roney, a pioneer developer of Miami Beach, opened the Cromwell Hotel, located on the Ocean at 20^th Street, on December 18, 1939. Then, in January 1940, he opened the Shore Club adjoining the hotel. The Shore Club was intended to be a feature of a community of hotels on Collins Avenue between 18^th and 20^th Streets, planned by Roney.

An advertisement, shown above, in The Miami Herald on Jan. 7, 1940, states: "Announcing the opening of the newest oceanfront bathing club at Miami Beach – located on the Ocean between 18^th and 20^th Streets – the central feature of N.B.T. Roney's new hotel center.

"Features of the Shore Club include a Clubhouse with Men's and Women's lockers and marble showers …. Oceanfront Cabanas … Swimming Pool …Children's Wading Pool … Electric Fountain … Landscaped Gardens … Two Dance Floors, one constructed so that on special occasions it can be flooded and frozen for Ice Skating … Dancing, Ice Skating and Swimming can be carried on simultaneously under the Florida Sun in The Shore Club Gardens."

Membership in the Shore Club was listed at $100 per year and included use of the lockers and swimming pool. The oceanfront cabanas were $400 for the season, but also some with short-term rental rates.

In 1942, the military commissioned the Cromwell Hotel to use as their headquarters during the war effort. During this period the Shore Club facilities were used by the military for several purposes, including as a Sunday School for children of military personnel in the Miami Beach area and an Officer's Club.

According to an article in the Dec. 7, 1944, Miami News: "The Cromwell Hotel is sold by N.B.T. Roney to Mr. and Mrs. Morton Stein. The Cromwell was one of the first hotels to be taken over by the government on Miami Beach for war purposes and until recently it was used as general headquarters for that area. When it is returned to civilian use the new owners will operate it."

A couple of months later, in February 1945, Roney sold the Shore Club ocean-front property to Harry Simberg for $300,000.

In January 1946, there is an ad in the Miami News saying the Cromwell Shore Club restaurant is now open. Also, in November 1946, there is an ad in the Miami Herald announcing the Glass House restaurant at the Shore Club.

Then in December 1949, the Shore Club Hotel opened on part of the property of the original Shore Club.

Finally, in a 2024 article in the Florida YIMBY: "Architecturally significant and historically rich, The Shore Club, located at 1901 Collins Avenue, has been a fixture of Miami Beach's landscape since its design in 1949 by Albert Anis. In its new phase under the Auberge Resorts Collection, the site will not only retain the original Shore Club and The Cromwell Hotel, an Art Deco gem from 1939, but will also introduce a modern 18-story residential tower and an independent villa, conceptualized by Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA), in their inaugural oceanfront endeavor."

Although it is not known exactly at which Shore Club restaurant (Cromwell's or the Glass House) this china was used, it is likely that it was used at the original Shore Club property rather than the Shore Club Hotel which opened in 1949.

White body china with a red stripe around the outer rim, and on the rim are drawings of beach and ocean items in red, white, and blue, including a motorboat, a woman in a 1940s swimsuit, a fish, a starfish and sea kelp, and a woman in an early 1900s swimsuit. At the bottom of the rim are the stacked words "Shore Club" and "Miami Beach" in red block letters with surrounding blue waves.

Sources:
The Miami Herald – January 1940 – ad announcing the Shore Club opening
The Miami News – December 7, 1944 – article on the sale of the Cromwell Hotel
The Miami News – January 1946 – ad about the Cromwell Shore Club Restaurant
The Miami Herald – November 1946 – ad about the opening of the Glass House Restaurant
The Forida YIMBY– April 2024 – article about the redevelopment of the Shore Club Hotel and the Cromwell Hotel
Cardcow.com

Contributor:
Ed Phillips