MIAMI BEACH ART DECO

Art Deco Miami beach tour
(Come back for night lights!)

The tour starts at the Art Deco Welcome Centre at 1001 Ocean Avenue.

Miami Beach is famous for its Streamline Moderne Art Deco architectural style. It is considered the second wave of Art Deco, and unlike the initial Skyscraper style that began in the 1920s, it reflected a simpler more austere style in keeping with depression years of the 1930s.

The stone found throughout is a limestone full of coral patterns. It is called Ulitic limestone or Keystone Coral, and comes in peach, pink, blue and green. All of it is quarried from the nearby Everglades. It lines exterior and interior walls, even at the base of decorative fence walls .

Here is an example from the iconic Beach Patrol Headquarters.






Here is an example from The Viscoy Hotel facade:







Here is the interior counter from The Tides Hotel:






My favorite part was finding the detailed motifs:

geometric like zigzags, chevrons and semicircles
natural like leaves, fern fronds and sunrises
tropical like pelicans and water
frozen fountains

Here are some essential links:
Origins and Influences
Architecture in the US and the Dawn of Deco

PS
These are the notes from my beach tour:

Ulitic limestone (keystone coral) peach, pink, blue, green-quarries from Everglades
Frozen fountains
Rum runners-mob brought alcohol to Miami beach during prohibition
Nautical Deco
Portholes
Ziggurats
Stainless steel
Streamline
Geometric
Porter house style?
South of Fifth SoFi-Jewish quarter
Segregation beach-curfew-African Americans
View-no Jews
No AC
No pools
No building on east side of ocean drive
Miami Vice
ABA
Mediterranean revival- rebuilt Chris Colombo -Versacci killed by serial killer
Sea grape tree-shedding leaves-yellow parrots
Modern Art Deco
Grackles
Quaker came down from PA to see why his coconut investments weren't making money-helped build the bridge to Miami Beach-grew avocados( alligator pears) and mangos
Barbara Capitman started preservation of Miami Art Deco
Leonard Holovitz chose the paint colours
Aztec Art Deco-the Carlyle