Casa Marina Hotel

Flagler’s original hotel at the end of his railroad in Key West, The Casa Marina Hotel was opened on new years eve 1920, shortly after Henry Flagler’s death. It cemented Key West’s designation as a vacation location for the United States free from the cold, and with the most modern amenities of the time including call buttons for room service and it’s own private rainwater cistern for fresh water for bathing.

Bryce’s firm was retained when the property, along with the neighboring Reach Resort, where acquired by a private equity firm for a complete upgrade while preserving the historic elements. As the team leader for the drafting team, Bryce was responsible for the field documentation and the complete DD drawing sets for bidding while overseen by the firm principals. To do this he lived in the hotel for extended periods, traveling from Savannah via private pane on Monday’s and returning Friday’s. While in Key West Bryce used his knowledge of the city as his family’s yearly travel vacation at their time share there to spend evenings at the historic society and library, researching historic images to find architectural details in old photos.

The property was branded as a Waldorf Astoria property when complete, and included a complete preservation and repair of this historic lobby and exterior decorative stucco detailing. All rooms where renovated to modern brand standards, which included extensive MEP rework and the installation of new pilings under existing structures added in the 1980’s that where experiencing settling issues.

As the onsite point person for the firm, Bryce was responsible for attending all consultant meetings, directing teams of employees and interns in field measurements, and organizing and drawing the Design Development set for pricing under the direction of a firm architect project manager.