The original Palm Beach Hotel was constructed in 1902 and located on the shoreline of Lake Worth, where the Biltmore Condominiums stand today. The hotel burned down in March 1925 in the same fire that destroyed The Breakers for a second time. Embers from the flames at The Breakers blew across the island and landed on the Palm Beach Hotel, igniting a fire. The Palm Beach Hotel burnt rapidly, with the some 160 guests reportedly only able to retrieve small items. After the fire, the hotel's owner, Sidney Maddock, left Palm Beach and never returned. Maurice Heckscher built a new hotel at the site for approximately $7 million. Opened in February 1926, this 550-room hotel would be known as the Alba Hotel, before being renamed the Biltmore Hotel in 1934.
