Originally opened on New Year's Eve in 1920, Casa Marina was conceived by American railroad tycoon Henry Flagler. The resort was intended to accommodate wealthy customers of Flagler's Overseas Railroad, connecting Key West to the Florida mainland and the final branch of Florida's East Coast Railway.

Casa Marina Key West was designed by architects Thomas Hastings and John M. Carrere, who designed New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, New York Public Library and the Senate and House of Representatives office buildings in Washington, DC.

Flagler's Overseas Railway was the final branch of Florida's East Coast Railway. It took seven years, over $50 million, and 17 million cubic yards of material to build.

Construction of the Overseas Railway began in April 1905 and the extension broke ground in Key West in November 1905. The Overseas Railway was completed on January 22, 1912.

After the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 destroyed sections of the Overseas Railway, the State of Florida built the Overseas Highway using much of the remaining infrastructure.

Three days after the resort’s grand opening, President Warren G. Harding came to visit, establishing Casa Marina as an exclusive destination.

During WWII through eminent domain, the United States Navy bought the resort in 1942, converting it to officers’ quarters until 1946.

In the 1950's it reemerged as a luxury hotspot, but then underwent multiple ownerships until 1962. That year, the military commandeered the resort, surrounding it with barbed wire during the Cuban Missile Crisis and installing missiles aimed at Cuba, just 90 miles away.

The Casa Marina sat empty from 1967 to 1976, with only its Birdcage Lounge and outdoor patio open. Beginning in 1976, various owners oversaw the Casa Marina for the next 41 years.

In 2022 Casa Marina transitioned to a collection of unique hotels, each with its own history and character in cities across the globe: Curio Collection by Hilton.

Casa Marina has played host to VIP's and celebrities such as Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman; writer Ernest Hemingway; band leader Guy Lombardo; actor and singer Rudy Vallee; composer and conductor John Philip Sousa, Gregory Peck, Ethel Merman, Ezio Pinza, Rita Hayworth and Gary Merrill, James “Jimmy” Hoffa, poets Wallace Stevens and Robert Frost, Donald Sutherland, Helen Mirren, the late Aaron Spelling, and TV personality Ozzie Osbourne.

Casa Marina is now most famously known as the site of John Costello and Patti Hoffend's marriage and the BEST PARTY EVER. If you got this far tell Patty Davis when you arrive in KW and you get a prize!

Registry