Oxford Hotel on North Miami Avenue
Images depicting the Oxford Hotel on the second floor of the Ullendorf Building at 140 North Miami Avenue.
The cover photograph depicts the Oxford Hotel in the Ullendorf Building on February 24, 1946. The hotel occupied the building’s second floor and began welcoming guests in the fall of 1917. The ground floor was leased to a variety of commercial tenants over the years, including restaurants, bakeries, and other retail businesses.
The two-story Ullendorf Building was constructed in 1915 on the west side of Avenue D. In 1921, Avenue D was renamed Miami Avenue as part of the Chaille addressing system, which standardized street names and addresses throughout the city. As a result, the Oxford Hotel’s address changed from 1004 Avenue D to 140 North Miami Avenue.
The west side of the avenue became known as the Ullendorf Block because nearly all of the lots were owned by Miami pioneer Phillip Ullendorff. Arriving in Miami in 1896, Ullendorff established himself as both a butcher and a successful real estate investor. He later co-founded the Nichols-Ullendorff Realty Company and served as a director of the South Okeechobee Farms Company of Miami, playing an important role in the city’s early commercial and real estate development.
The Oxford Hotel occupied the second floor of the Ullendorf Building until March 1952, when the Southern Bell Telephone Company leased the space and converted it into offices. Although the hotel disappeared more than seven decades ago, the historic Ullendorf Building remains standing on North Miami Avenue, serving as one of the few surviving commercial buildings from Miami’s early downtown.
