Edward C. Veranth, P.A. Realtor-Associate
Edward C. Veranth, P.A. Realtor-Associate
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The 1925 Paris World's Fair, officially referred to as the Paris
Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderne, brought the new "modern" architecture to the
masses. The look was Art Deco.
The star-studded movies of the 1920s and early 1930s immediately embraced
this new look and incorporated it into dozens of glamorous movies featuring
everything from furniture to clothing to architecture. Not only were the movies
all Art Deco but the fashionable restaurants and even the homes of the stars
were transformed into museums of the new Deco. With the popularity of the
movies, suddenly all of America had to have Art Deco.
Grand hotels, Hollywood mansions, luxurious ocean liners even apartment
buildings took on the new style. It was everywhere and was always associated
with glamour, wealth and the in-crowd.
Early in the 20th Century, self-made millionaire Carl Fisher and the Lummus
brothers descended on a narrow strip of land off Miami and turned the half
underwater, alligator infested tropical jungle into what we now know as Miami
Beach. It took years and hundreds of workers to clear the land of mangrove trees
and the impossible razor-like palmettos as well as armies of raccoons, snakes
and rats! Dredging Biscayne Bay created a man-made beach paradise that would
soon provide the "Roaring Twenties" rich a new way to spend their
money. Auto giant Louis Chevrolet thrilled audiences while he piloted huge speed
boat races on the Bay.
Early on, the Beach entrepreneurs gave away land to jump-start the development of this new tropical playground. Fisher who had made his fortune in the automotive business soon attracted tycoons like William Randolph Hearst, Alfred Du Pont and J.C. Penney to the Beach where they build opulent mansions which drew even more people to the area. The Government constructed a paved road from Chicago to Florida and soon the Dixie Highway was jammed with cars trying to get to the new oasis. Pan American Airlines increased direct flights to Miami from New York and South America.
The first luxury hotel opened on the Beach in 1929 but is wasn't until 1934
that the Art Deco hotel craze began in earnest. Two architects L. Murray Dixon
and Henry Hohauser are credited with designing hundreds of the Deco
buildings. Dixon designed 431 projects in eighteen years including the Raleigh
Hotel, the Ocean Front, Tides, and the Imperial. Hohauser's contributions
included the Century, the Crescent, the Colony and many more.
The massive hotel, residential and apartment building boom created one of the
largest concentrations of Art Deco buildings in the world. Initially they were
painted white, off-white or beige. Trim was a contrasting color but nothing like
the colors we see today. It wasn't until the 1980s that Leonard Horowitz began
to add color to the famous structures. He was hired first to select the colors
for a building on Washington Avenue. That eventually led Horowitz to design the
color scheme for over 150 additional buildings. It was also about this time that
the name Art Deco was coined from the rather long 1925 French World's Fair the Paris
Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderne.
In
the 1970s the Art Deco hotels were nearly demolished by eager developers ready
to cash in on the booming South Beach success. They wanted to build more "concrete canyons
of condos" but thanks in large part to the Miami Design Preservation League
many of the buildings were saved. The organization's founder Barbara Baer Capitman,
is
credited for saving the district's nearly 800 Deco buildings from the wrecking
ball.
Today the guidelines for restoration in South Beach is stringent. Buildings have to be restored to their original state when they are renovated.
There are several styles of Art Deco and many excellent examples are
still present on Miami Beach. It is the colorful history of this area and the melding of these
styles into unique and
romantic structures that make Miami Beach
what it is today.
Photos: Copyright 2005 Ed Veranth
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Edward C.
Veranth, P.A. |
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