Miami Beach Architectural District

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Miami Beach Architectural District
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Location Miami Beach, Florida
Coordinates 25°47′9″N80°8′3″W / 25.78583°N 80.13417°W / 25.78583; -80.13417
Area5,750 acres (23.3 km2)
NRHP reference No. 79000667 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 14, 1979

The Miami Beach Architectural District (also known as Old Miami Beach Historic District and the more popular term Miami Art Deco District) is a U.S. historic district (designated as such on May 14, 1979) located in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. The area is well known as the district where Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace lived and was assassinated by Andrew Cunanan, in a mansion on Ocean Drive. It is bounded [2] by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Sixth Street to the south, Alton Road to the west and the Collins Canal and Dade Boulevard to the north. It contains 960 historic buildings.

Contents

Historical significance

This historic district holds the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world, an umbrella term covering a range of styles such as “Streamline”, “Tropical”, and “Med-deco” and built mostly between the Great Depression and the early 1940s.[ citation needed ] Notably, the architectural movement reached Miami after the city’s real estate market took a downturn in 1925, and the "Great Miami Hurricane" of 1926 that left 25,000 people homeless throughout the greater Miami region.

The designs are often described as evoking technological modernity, resilience, and optimism. [3] The Miami Beach Art Deco Museum describes the Miami building boom as coming mostly during the second phase of the architectural movement known as Streamline Moderne, a style that was “buttressed by the belief that times would get better, and was infused with the optimistic futurism extolled at American’s World Fairs of the 1930s.” [4]

In 1989, it was listed in A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture, published by the University of Florida Press. [5]

The district includes areas of seasonal hotels, commercial strips, and residential area. [6]

Hotels on Ocean Drive, which can actually face the ocean, run from 5th to 15th Streets and front onto Lummus Park, a public park and beach. Many of these "reflect the influences of the Moderne Style perpetuated at the International expositions of the 1930s": the Chicago World's Fair of 1933 and the New York World's Fair of 1939.

These include:

The district also includes:

Notable architects

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami Beach, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which separates the Beach from the mainland city of Miami. The neighborhood of South Beach, comprising the southernmost 2.5 sq mi (6.5 km2) of Miami Beach, along with Downtown Miami and the PortMiami, collectively form the commercial center of South Florida. Miami Beach's population is 82,890 according to the 2020 census. It has been one of America's preeminent beach resorts since the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Beach</span> Neighborhood in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States

South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streamline Moderne</span> Late type of the Art Deco architecture and design

Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design, it was used in railroad locomotives, telephones, toasters, buses, appliances, and other devices to give the impression of sleekness and modernity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean Drive (South Beach)</span> Thoroughfare in Miami Beach, Florida

Ocean Drive is a major thoroughfare in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Anis</span> American architect

Albert Anis was an architect in Miami, Florida known for his Art Deco architecture. He was one of a group of American-born architects working in Miami Beach who synthesized the austere architectural principles of the International Style architecture with their own brand of modernism which embraced the ornamentation and exotic lure of the tropical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean Spray Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Ocean Spray Hotel is a historic hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, United States built in 1937. It is located at 4130 Collins Avenue (Mid-Beach). On June 2, 2004, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August Geiger (architect)</span> American architect

August Geiger was one of the most prominent American architects in South Florida from 1905 to the late 1940s. He experimented in Mission, Neo-Renaissance and Art Deco architecture, but is most noted for his works in the Mediterranean Revival style. A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Victor Hugo Nellenbogen was a Hungarian-American architect known for his Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival designs in Miami Beach during the first half of the 20th century. His notable buildings include the Savoy Plaza Hotel on Ocean Drive, the Lord Tarleton Hotel on 40th and 41st Streets, and the Sterling Building on Lincoln Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moderne architecture</span> Architectural style

Moderne architecture, also sometimes referred to as Style Moderne or simply Moderne, Jazz Age, Moderne, Jazz Modern or Jazz style, describes certain styles of architecture popular from 1925 through the 1940s. It is closely related to Art Deco. Both belong to the architectural Modern Movement, which broke with tradition on purpose to create a fresh look that was uninfluenced by earlier forms and styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiehnel and Elliott</span> American architect

The architectural firm of Kiehnel and Elliott was established in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1906. The firm did substantial work in Florida, and moved to Miami in 1922. From 1926, it was known as Kiehnel, Elliott and Chalfant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surfcomber Hotel</span> Building in Florida, U.S.

The Surfcomber Hotel is a boutique hotel on Collins Avenue in the historic Art Deco district of South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida. The hotel was built in 1948 and was acquired by the Kimpton hotel chain in April 2011. The Surfcomber is known for pool parties, and it served as the headquarters for MTV during the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards and for Bud Light during Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. The hotel is located at 1717 Collins Avenue on the shore of Miami's South Beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collins Waterfront Architectural District</span> Historic district in Florida, United States

The Collins Waterfront Architectural District is a historic district in Miami Beach, Florida, that includes 110 contributing buildings and structures built in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, centering on Collins Avenue. The predominant styles include moderne, Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival architecture, as well as the local Miami Modern style. The chief contributing resources are large resort hotels. The district is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and by 24th Street, Indian Creek Drive, Pine Tree Drive and the Collins Canal. The district is part of Mid-Beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Murray Dixon</span> American architect

Lawrence Murray Dixon was an architect in Miami Beach, Florida. He was born in Live Oak, Florida, attended the Georgia School of Technology (1918–1919) and worked in New York for Schultze and Weaver from 1923 to 1929 when he moved to Miami Beach. He is credited with designing The Temple House (1933) in the South Beach section of Miami Beach as well as other Art Deco hotels and residences. Dixon is listed as a Great Floridian.

Henry Hohauser was an architect in Miami Beach, Florida. He is known for his Art Deco architecture stylings, and is listed as a "Great Floridian"; in 1993, he was ranked as one of the 100 most influential people in South Florida history by The Miami Herald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Deco in the United States</span> Architectural style popular in the 1920s-1930s

The Art Deco style, which originated in France just before World War I, had an important impact on architecture and design in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The most notable examples are the skyscrapers of New York City, including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center. It combined modern aesthetics, fine craftsmanship, and expensive materials, and became the symbol of luxury and modernity. While rarely used in residences, it was frequently used for office buildings, government buildings, train stations, movie theaters, diners and department stores. It also was frequently used in furniture, and in the design of automobiles, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as toasters and radio sets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greystone Miami Beach</span> Historic art-deco hotel in Miami

Greystone Miami Beach, in Miami Beach, Florida, is an Art Deco-style hotel built in 1939. It has also been known as the Greystone Hotel or as The Greystone. It was "designed by renowned architect Henry Hohauser, who was given the title of “Great Floridian” by Florida's Department of State in 1993 for his major contribution to the distinct Art Deco architectural scene present throughout the region."

B. Robert Swartburg was an American architect working in New York and Florida primarily known for his Modern and Streamline Moderne architectural style. He was one of the leading modernist architects in South Florida contributing greatly to the development of MiMo Modern style in the post- WWII 40s and 50's. In his 35-year career he is said to have designed over 1000 buildings. Swartburg was also an accomplished artist who painted for pleasure, and executed murals and sculptures to embellish his buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penthouse Court</span>

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References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Miami Beach Architectural District, FL - Google Maps
  3. Kellard, Joseph (Summer 2020). "Miami's Art Deco Answer to the Great Depression". The Objective Standard. 15 (2). Glen Allen Press: 44–48.
  4. "What is Art Deco". mdpl.org. Miami Design Preservation League. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  5. A Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture, 1989, Gainesville: University of Florida Press, p. 145, ISBN   0-8130-0941-3
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 National Register of Historic Place Inventory-Nomination: Miami Beach Architectural District / Old Miami Beach Historic District. NARA. 1979. 1042 searchable pages of materials from 1979 to 2012. Downloading may be slow. Includes a series of 37 black and white photos, a series of 57 b&w photos from 1978, correspondence, maps, newspaper clippings, additional documentation and a 2012 amendment with 15 color photos from 2010-12.

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