Admired for its unusual shape, color, and stainless steel sign, the Summit Hotel is an important work by Morris Lapidus. Trained at Columbia University, he enjoyed considerable success as a retail designer in the 1930s.
After the Second World War, Lapidus began to design hotels, including the celebrated Fontainbleau and Eden Roc in Miami Beach. Distinctive features include a pair of neon signs that direct drivers to the parking garage and a stainless steel ash tray that serves cigarette smokers descending into the subway.