The Miami Beach Art Deco
Historic District
A section of twenty blocks, or a square mile of Miami Beach (Miami Beach Architectural Historic District)
has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places due to the
distinctive architecture of its buildings. This website includes a selection of
these buildings.
The Art Deco Style
The Art Deco style derived from a synthesis of exotic influences which
developed during the first two decades of the twentieth century. It was
crystallized at an 1925 international exhibition in Paris Exposition
Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels, which is abbreviated as
“Arts Deco.” Although this exhibition dealt mostly with interior decoration it
had a strong influence on Architecture. The use of the term “Art Deco” did not
begin until 1968, when it was coined by British art historian Bevis Hillier in
reference to designs resulting from this exposition. The Art Deco style
emphasized rich textures and ornamentation, often using expensive materials
such as crystal and marble. Decorating images show romanticized, mainly
tropical, animals and garden scenes. Architecrural structures are influenced by
Egyptian, Mayan and Aztec pyramids and surface decorations. Art Deco
architecture tends to favor symmetrical structures.
The Streamline Style
The Streamline or Streamline Moderne style was a slightly later movement
influenced by industrial and machine design, and it peaked during the decade of
the 1930’s. It was fascinated with speed and travel, and the images of trains,
automobiles and ocean liners. This was also a time of science fiction in movies
and comic strips, such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, and the
futuristic images from these medias also influenced the movement. During this
decade, vehicles were streamlined for aerodynamic purposes, with smooth,
rounded surfaces designed to reduce air resistance. The term streamlining also
applies to industrial efficiency resulting from simplification.
Streamlining became a symbol of modernity and progress away from the
depression. The sleek curved style of the vehicles was then applied to
appliances, jewelry and buildings.
In reaction to Art Deco, the Streamline architectural style calls for smooth,
simple surfaces with minimal ornamentation. Any decorations would tend to be
geometric patterns rather than images. Structures are often asymmetrical, and
seek to express an aerodynamic character. The sense of speed is often conveyed
by narrow horizontal decorative bands or “racing stripes.”
Skyscrapers
The American skyscraper is more of a building type rather than an architectural
style, and it included Art Deco and Streamline elements, but it developed an
identity of its own, which influenced the Miami Beach Deco architecture. This
building type emerged from New York, Chicago and other large urban centuries
during the early twentieth century. These tall tower structures were a natural
result of the density and congestion of the these cities, but they quickly
became a symbol of modernity and prosperity. The invention and
development of the elevator made these tall structures practical.
Miami Beach Deco
The hotels built in Miami Beach hotels during the 1930’s and early 1940’s
developed a coherent style influenced by the above movements. This style has
been called Miami Beach Deco or Tropical Deco. Although some of the
hotels may adhere closer to Art Deco or Streamline features, a blend of the two
styles predominates. Most of the buildings were designed by a small number of
architects. Elements of the Miami Beach Deco style are outlined below.
Moderate Cost
Miami Beach Buildings were designed to be flashy and striking while maintaining
modest construction costs, aimed to appeal to a middle-class clientele which
was attempting to emerge from the depression doldrums. One example of this is
the imitation of the skyscraper style on buildings of moderate size, by
emphasizing vertical lines and topping the buildings with towers and finials.
Façade Symmetry
Many of the buildings show façade symmetry, with a prominent central section
and two similar side wings. The central section sometimes projects forward from
the side wings.
Contours
Many of the buildings show rounded corners in Streamline style. Sometimes
windows or “eyebrows” sweep around these corners. Other buildings use sharp
corners to emphasize angularity, and sometimes both styles are combined for
contrast.
Frieze Panels
Façade surfaces are often decorated with bas-relief panels scultured into the
stucco surface, generally representing tropical or exotic themes. These panels
are often set as decorative bands above and below the windows (called
spandrels).
Eyebrows
“Eyebrows” are sun shades made of concrete that extend out above a window to keep
the building cooler in the Miami tropical weather. They may cover
individual windows or extend along an entire side of a building.
Porthole Windows
Many buildings have rounded glass windows imitating ocean liner portholes,
emphasizing nautical themes. These can be grouped and used as part of
horizontal or vertical bands.
Materials
All the buildings described in this website are made of concrete. The biggest
advantage of concrete is its plasticity, since it can be poured into forms while
wet. It is also economical, and its
resistance to rot and insects make it particularly well suited to South
Florida. Metal railings made of stainless steel or aluminum are often used,
imitating the railings of ocean liners. Hotel titles are often made
using neon signs or metal marquees.
A material that is often used for surface decoration is keystone. It is
made form the oolitic limestone indigenous to South Florida. This
material is found in the Florida keys and the Everglades, where it is cut into
slabs. Artisans fashion relief sculptured panels from these slabs, which are
polished and often dyed in colors. The material is porous enough to
absorb these color tints. A careful look at these panels may show the
fossilized imprint of corals and shells. Another, less expensive method of
achieving surface ornamentation is to cast the design into the stucco facing.
Stucco is an aggregate material mixed
with water which can be applied wet, and it hardens when it dries.
References (For the whole website):
Richard abd Valerie Beaubien, Discovering South Beach Deco, Domani
Press, Bolton, Mass., 2004
Barbara Baer Capitman, Deco Delights, E.P. Dutton, New York, 1988.
Laura Cerwinske, Tropical Deco, Rizzoli International Publications, New
York, 1981.
Jean-Francois Lejeune and Allan T. Shulman, The Making of Miami Beach,
1933-1942- The Architecture of Lawrence Murray Dixon, Bass museum of Art,
Miami Beach, 2000.
Keith Root, Miami Beach Art Deco Guide, Miami Design Preservation
League, Miami Beach, Florida, 1987.
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Copyright © 2007 |
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Corporation Author: Alfredo Romagosa aromagosa@bellsouth.net Photography: Margarita Gavalda Romagosa |