Building The Magic City

From The opening credits of “Miami Vice” to the iconic post card images gracing every souvenir shop, the Art Deco buildings of Ocean Drive have come to be as synonymous with South Beach as frosty cocktails and beach umbrellas.

Over 800 Art Deco structures are found in South Beach, according to the National Register of Historic Places making the main drags of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue a parade of pastel and pre-war artistic flourishes. All of this was codified back in 1979 when a dedicated group of activists helped create The Miami Beach Art Deco Historic District which comprises the areas of Espanola Way, Collins/Washington Avenues, Museum and Flamingo Park. 

Though Ocean Drive has become more commercial in the last few decades, several hotels have maintained their aesthetic integrity (and also their lawful obligation as part of a historic district) by restoring their facades and interiors to their former glory. The porthole windows, ship-like railings, sleek curves, glass blocks, shiny chrome and gleaming terrazzo floors transport us back to a time when Miami was developing its signature glamour and look. No trip to South Florida is complete without basking in the flamboyant-yet-futuristic beauty of Art Deco flourishes as the buildings along Ocean Drive attest. 

Miami is an ever-evolving city and while our Deco gems pay tribute to our historic past, architects and designers are incorporating retro styles while also forging a new architectural path, presenting a variety of interesting architecture to explore. Styles range from Mediterranean Revival to Miami Modern, with a host of others between and since.  Read on to learn more about the visually stunning, unique and varied gems that make up Miami Beach today. 

History Of Miami Beach

What was once a swampland has now developed into a world-class resort destination, but it didn’t happen overnight. In the 1880s, agriculturist John S. Collins achieved success by planting avocados on uninhabited oceanfront land that would later become Miami Beach (the pine trees on today’s Pinetree Drive served as an erosion buffer for Collins’ plantations). Collins saw the potential of developing the beachfront land into a resort and set about doing that. In 1915 the Browns Hotel was built (now home to the famed steakhouse Prime 112), mangroves continued to be cleared, waterways were dredged, channels built and an 18-hole golf course was landscaped. In 1917 Miami Beach became a city and by the 1920s was well on its way to being a playground for wealthy industrialists to vacation and build homes. 

The 1930s ushered in the Art Deco building boom and an influx of immigrants after WWII aided in Miami Beach’s expansion. Synagogues like Temple Emanu-El (built in 1947) and The North Shore Jewish Center, built in 1951 and becoming Temple Menorah after an expansion in 1963, served a growing Jewish population. The Jewish Museum of Florida is housed in a former synagogue in Miami Beach’s South of Fifth neighborhood. The original synagogue structure was built in 1929, and the second, built in 1936, was designed by Art Deco architect Henry Hohauser and features 80 stained-glass windows, a copper dome and a marble bimah. The two buildings are joined together by the Bess Myerson Gallery, named after former Miss America, Bess Myerson. 

By the 1970s, much of South Beach’s architecture was in disrepair and developers sought to bulldoze many of the buildings to make way for modern structures. In 1976, Barbara Baer Capitman and a group of fellow activists formed the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) to try to halt the destruction of historic buildings in South Beach. After battling local developers and Washington bureaucrats, MDPL prevailed in its quest to have the Miami Beach Art Deco District named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. While the recognition did not offer protection for the buildings from demolition, it succeeded in drawing attention to the plight of the buildings. After many years of effort, the Miami Beach City Commission created the first two historic preservation districts in 1986. The districts covered Española Way, most of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue in South Beach. The designation of the districts helped protect buildings from demolition and created standards for renovation.

Elements Of Art Deco

The salient features of Art Deco are almost-too familiar at this point: bold round typography, the use of curved forms and horizontal bands to convey speed and those signature terrazzo floors. Introduced at the 1925 Paris exposition, the “frozen fountain” became an Art Deco leitmotif. Examples include the  bas-relief panels on each side of the entrance of the Congress Hotel on Ocean Drive built in 1935, and — on a monumental scale — in The Wolfsonian’s lobby. The Wolfsonian’s frozen fountain was originally on the facade of the Norris Theater, which was demolished in 1983 to make way for a McDonald’s. Architect Mark Hampton chose it as a centerpiece for the museum’s lobby, integrating it into a real fountain. 

The acanthus, a plant that originated in the Mediterranean region, appears frequently in ancient Greek and Roman ornamentation. Deco designers borrowed and simplified the acanthus leaf motif, giving it the highly stylized form, a feature best seen at the entrance to Henry Hohauser’s Taft Hotel, built in 1936 in South Beach. 

Stacked lines are another motif commonly used, as evidenced at the Kenmore Hotel (built by Anton Skislewicz in 1936) echoing the streamlined minimalism of the Sunbeam toaster. The lines running along the front of the toaster recall the design of Art Deco skyscrapers, and the decoration on the Kenmore facade does something similar, drawing the eye upward to produce a feeling of vertical rise.

“The nickname for Miami Beach’s style is Tropical Art Deco,” explains Howard Brayer, a tour guide with the Miami Design Preservation League. “It’s a bit different from other places in that there are influences from Mesoamerican culture, Egypt and Art Nouveau.” 

Croatian architect Anton Skislewicz designed The Plymouth Hotel in 1940 influenced by his background as a pilot and naval architect. Skislewicz gave the building a streamlined, geometric structure that established it as more modern than any building before it. During World War II, The Plymouth Hotel functioned as one of the GI homes for nearly half a million men who stayed in Miami Beach. In 1987, the New World Symphony purchased the hotel as housing for its young musicians. For 26 years, the talented musicians of the Symphony filled the halls as melodies floated in and out of the rooms. Today, the hotel boasts a posh elegance reborn from the years before it.  Pops of brown, red, blue and green grace the circular lobby, whose walls are adorned by an unmistakable duo of restored Art Deco murals by artist Roman Chatov. Guests can immerse themselves in the hip, 50s-inspired courtyard and pool with classic checkered floors, pink and white cabanas and rose-colored lounge chairs tucked away between magnificent palm trees.  To top it all off, a Tiki-inspired bamboo bar offers refreshing drinks and a fun place to take a break from the Florida sun.

The Cadillac Hotel & Beach Club in Miami Beach is slightly north of South Beach and quite taller than the typical three-story Art Deco towers of the era. Originally designed by renowned Art Deco architect Roy France in 1940, the hotel, true to its name, pays homage to that of a car.  This can be seen in the gray center peak that evokes a shiny hood ornament, to the cantilevered porte cochere resembling the hood of a car to the hotel’s signage in cursive italics that characterized speed and fluidity. The hotel reopened in spring 2018 after a multi-million-dollar renovation that draws on the glamour and sophistication of the 1940s European Riviera spearheaded by interior design firm Bill Rooney Studio. The lobby kept its original terrazzo floors, lush greenery and a wraparound mezzanine balcony overlooking the check-in and lounge area. New additions included an Italian trattoria, a beachside bungalow restaurant and a complete refurbishment of the 357 rooms. 

Miami Beach architecture also encompasses the Mediterranean Revival style which recalls old Spanish Colonial villas, with stucco walls, red tile and prominent foyers being typical features. The Kimpton Angler’s Hotel, a boutique resort on Washington Avenue, is exemplary, as is the more ornate, The Villa Casa Casuarina At The Former Versace Mansion. Miami Modern (MiMo) is probably best showcased by the Fontainebleau hotel, also designed by one of Miami’s most notable architects Morris Lapidus. The building’s curved design and generous use of color made it one of the glitziest and most flamboyant hotels on Miami Beach when it opened in 1954. Its most well-known feature may be its “stairway to nowhere.” While leading to a cloakroom, the real appeal of the staircase was to provide the hotel’s guests with the opportunity to make a dramatic descent down to the lobby, typically before a group of onlookers. Its signature lobby with crystal chandeliers and “bowtie” patterned black and white floor tile are iconic and still stunning, despite modern updates to the property. 

“As Miami Beach became a tourist destination in the 1930s the clientele changed from super wealthy visitors to an upper middle-class audience, so hotel owners needed less lavish properties than the Mediterranean Revival style which was pricey to build,” explains Brayer. “Art Deco were less expensive to erect than Mediterranean Revival. So the owners could charge less but hotel owners wanted to give people the feeling they were in an exotic location and Art Deco created that feeling. They also painted many of the sidewalks a reddish color, evoking the look of a Hollywood red carpet.”

Miami Beach (and of course greater Miami) has now become a touchstone for celebrity architects looking to create splashy projects with sun-dappled appeal. Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas was tapped to design the 500-million-dollar Faena District, a three-block stretch of Miami Beach named after Argentine developer Alan Faena that includes the former Saxony hotel, a retail complex and performing arts center. Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron created the Lincoln Road Parking Garage, with its raw concrete design creating sculptural areas for fashion shoots and private events. Celebrity architect Frank Gehry lent his talents to the Miami Beach SoundScape Park for the New World Center where films are shown and events, such as the concerts of the New World Symphony, are shown as WallCasts for enthusiasts to watch and listen as they bask in Miami’s al fresco charms.