History of the Brazilian Court Hotel

heavily damaged the Poinciana and the Great De- pression finally did it in. It was closed in 1934 and torn down. Another hotel rose from the ashes. The 550 room Alba Hotel was constructed on the grounds of the old Palm Beach Hotel. The $7 million hotel went bank- rupt within two years. By 1929 it was operating as the Ambassador Hotel. After another sale in 1934 it was renamed the Biltmore. In the 1950s it was ru- mored that General Batista, the exiled President of Cuba, was living there. Developer John D. MacAr- thur bought the defunct hotel in the 1970s to keep it from being demolished. New owners turned it into a condominium in 1981. Flagler saw great success despite the financial set- backs and events that damaged his hotels. The people of wealth from the north grew accustomed to the warmer winter climes of south Florida and were all too willing to part with their money to do so. From these early ventures that some at the time called madness, rose the present day Palm Beach, home of some of the wealthiest and most influential people in the United States. Flagler did not stop in the Palm Beaches. He extend- ed his railroad southward to Miami by 1896. In his most ambitious project he built the Florida Overseas Railroad that extended to Key West.

Breakers Fire June 9, 1903.

4