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Posted on Tuesday, 8.16.2010

Miami Modern - Miami Architecture

 

Miami Modern is a combination of the 1920’s International and German Bauhaus styles with a touch of futuristic ornamentation to create a form of resort style Miami architecture. This unusual form of Miami architecture found a home in Miami Beach following World War II thanks to designers such as Morris Lapidus, Norman Giller and Igor Polevitzky.


This Miami Modern style was most evident in the Miami Beach area during the 1950s and 1960s. Outrageously creative Miami hotel designs sprung up from 41st Street, where the current Fontainebleau hotel is now, all the way to Motel Row in Sunny Isles. Resort area architects hoped this new Miami architecture would appease the new generation of wealthy middle-class vacationers.


MiMO, short for Miami Modern, was created in 1998 by a planner with the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation, by Randall Robinson, and professor of hotel design at FIU, Teri D'Amico, to refer the architecture of Miami hotels built between 1945-1969.


The Fontainebleau Hotel, the Eden Roc Hotel, the Dezerland Hotel, and the Di Lido (now called the Standard) are among the most notable Miami Modern “MiMO” style Miami Beach hotels. These hotels, designed by flamboyant Morris Lapidus, a Russian emigrant, in the 1950s and '60s, are perfect examples of the Miami architectural style Miami Modern now called “MiMo”.


Lincoln Road Mall in South Beach, also designed by Lapidus, is another great area to see MiMo architecture. Lapidus's used boomerang shapes, funky fountains, and rolling concrete walls all throughout the mall.

Below are a few of the more notable landmarks built in the Miami Modern style "MiMO":

 

The Vagabond Motel

The MiMO style was also very apparent on the mainland, specifically between 19th and 82nd Streets on Biscayne Boulevard. A perfect example is the Vagabond Motel  located at 7301 Biscayne Boulevard and designed in 1953 by Robert Swartburg. Robert Swartburg who also designed the Delano hotel and the Marseilles hotel.
The Bacardi Tower

The Bacardi Building, built in 1963 in Midtown Miami located on Biscayne Boulevard is an example of Miami Modern Architecture. The Bacardi tower is overlayed with two huge  ceramic tile murals made of 28,000 hand-painted, 6″ x 6″ tiles surrounded by a marble border.This building serves as the Bicardi Corporations headquarters in the United States.
The Jackie Gleason House
Known as the Jackie Gleason House, this MiMO style home was designed in 1959 by Lester Avery. Located at 2232 Alton Road, this home was oncxe occuoied by JAckis Gleason. In 2001 it was awarded the "Certificate of Excellence"  by the Miami Design Preservation League.
Fire Station #1, South Beach
In 1967, Lapidus used quirky columns to make rooftop waves above a  South Beach neighborhood fire station located at 1051 Jefferson Avenue.





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