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South Beach Miami Architecture
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What is South Beach's Architectural Style?
South Beach is an urban architectural playground where photographers, art historians, and artists gather from all over the world to savor the nieghborhood's sophisticated style of the buildings and parks. An architectural fantasy land created from boggy swampland, then neglected for decades, South Beach is today the trendiest destination with the most chic architectural styles, and photographers love it. There's a mix of urban street chic, Caribbean flavor, and a nod to history with the countless preserved hotels and clubs. Eclectic style combined with daring color schemes borrowed from Caribbean architecture and a bent toward resort luxury creates the unique South Beach style of architecture and decor. |
| There is a tangible energy about South Beach, one which is continually renewing itself through constant influx of international visitors and new residents, people who work in South Beach, and who travel here from other parts of the US. The energy seems limitless and always fresh, and it's reflected in the architecture whimsical modern style seen everywhere on the streets. You can feel the passion in the way people live, eat, drink, work, and dress. Lavishness is displayed, creativity is expressed, and luxury is revered in the style and architecture of South Beach.
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Miami Beach's Building Boom in the 1930s
The area south of Fifth Street was developed mostly in the 1920s and 1930s, and marketed to a middle class Jewish population from the Northeast. The onset of World War II in the US in 1941 ended construction in the area. The hotels were built in the Mediterranean style, but with a new Art Deco twist. Art Deco, as an architectural style, celebrated the new trendiness of culture, made possible by new technology made available to the travelling masses: cruise ships, airplanes, locomotives, the car. The clean industrial lines conjured up the lines of the machines that made travel possible, and the chrome accents reminded people of the chrome accents on cars and trains. The Latin culture got in the |
mix, and gave flair the to the industrial style, such as details around windows, purely cosmetic fixtures on the outside of the buildings. The mix of flat and curved walls and all the ornamentation for which Art Deco is famous, are extensions of the concurrent architectural style called Big City Deco, and of Moderne design. The Art Deco district in South Beach Miami is revered for its unique situation: the buildings in the area are all built on the same scale, the same architectureal style, and there's a pleasing harmony amongst the buildings, specifically in geometry, color, and style of decoration. You don't find this many places in the modern world. Art Deco in South Beach is indeed very pleasing: fanciful colors, whimsical ornamentation, human scale, all make for a neighborhood architectural style that is delightful and which evokes feelings of vacation, luxury, fun, and stylishness. It's almost romantic, while remaining modern and chic. The buildings invite you to have fun and lose your inhibitions in South Beach Miami.
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Resort Glamour
After World War II, when the country began to recover and places like South Beach Miami were returned to civilian life after serving as soldier housing, there was another round of building. Parts of the US population were experiencing newfound wealth and glamour, and South Beach was ready to supply the hotels to fit the lifestyle. The Fountainebleau is the best example of the new resort glamour that began to characterize architectural style in South Beach. Gloss, fantasy, and luxury set the stage for this French Provincial style hotel designed by Morris Lapidus, who incorporated curving staircases to nowhere, glitzy chandeliers, and sweeping curves everywhere.
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Color Matters in Architecture
In the 1960s and 1970s, South Beach Miami was neglected and fell into drab disrepair. The Art Deco consistency of color and decoration was interrupted by large gaudy storefront signs and the whole look was really ruined. The pristine white buildings with their colorful ornamentations were painted over in drab colors like beige and brown, and if you were in South Beach Miami at that time, you would realize how large a part color plays in the look of Art Deco. Art Deco needs the color schemes to offset the architectural details, and painting everything brown ruins the look. After the renaissance of South Beach Miami in the 1980s, the formerly white Art Deco buildings were painted pastel colors, with |
details and ornamentations painted in contrasting colors. It's not what the original builders had in mind, but it does keep to the spirit of the architecture, and the buidlings were now as beautiful or more beautiful than ever, depending on who you ask. Today, you can see both white styles and the pastel versions when you stroll down the street.
Fantasy Architecture in South Beach
South Beach is full of glorious examples of Fantasy Architecture, an indulgence that was historically available only to King and Queens of Europe, Pharaohs, and the weatlhy barons of the early history of the United States. Today, we see modern versions in South Beach. Read More.
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