What do you think a good introduction could be? I’m not really sure …
Today we’re going to talk about the art deco, the rich history. I think that’s it.
If you can figure out a sentence or two… – that makes sense to me.
Welcome back, guys.
Today we’re going to talk about and see the art deco style here in Miami.
We’re also going to talk about the rich history of Miami Beach.
Oh! Alright. Well, then I’ll say I’m bringing you out here because
I want you to look at the beautiful sky as it meets the sparkling water and
I want you to try to visualize nothing else here but just that.
Those are the only two things that were here. Everything else – the beach, the park,
the buildings, everything beyond where the water meets the sky, is manmade.
Carl Fisher, one of the founders of Miami Beach, hired gardeners to come in, redesign everything,
and imported tropical plants from everywhere else. So, none of this is indigenous.
A picture of Lincoln Road: as they were chopping through the jungle to make Lincoln Road.
Wow. What year was this?
That was in the early 1900s. That was pre 1920. It’s insane how fast it all went.
In the blink of an eye. Yeah, exactly.
Are Mediterranean-style buildings the style you can see in cities in California?
Absolutely. Like in old parts of Santa Barbara and San Diego.
Well, there’s one right there. See that building on the corner?
That’s the type of building from the first spurt of interest in Miami Beach at the turn of the 20th century,
when they first decided to try to make this the playground of the rich and famous.
That was the type of building they were building.
Those are wooden-frame buildings. It was a style that was imagined because,
like you said, it was what they thought the rich and famous of the Mediterranean were living in.
And who knows? If it hadn’t been for the hurricane and the subsequent Great Depression, that might be
what would still be here, like in southern California. They didn’t have a hurricane and it’s still there.
And we do still have a tremendous number of those buildings but most of them, like that one, were built after the hurricane.
Then, shortly after that, they fell in love with the new, more modern style and they went with that.
I like to show people this building. This is the Congress building.
This was built in 1936 and it was built by Henry Hohauser.
Henry Hohauser and L. Murray Dickson – I’m going to show you buildings by those two architects –
actually built about 75 or 80% of all the hundreds of buildings in this area.
But this building is a great example of many of the little design details that are sprinkled throughout the area.
They needed buildings that would go up fast and inexpensively.
So, you see that this building is only three stories. It’s small for a hotel.
That was the legal limit that they could build without an elevator. It was cheaper.
And do you notice how the windows are on the corner?
They didn’t have air conditioning so, by putting the windows on the corner like that,
they could open up both windows and this breeze – you feel it – would come through the apartment
or at least the front apartment. They didn’t care so much about the ones in the back.
You can see how the designs stop. They wrap around the corner and then you see no more.
Because again, why spend money on parts of the building that you can’t see?
Yeah, exactly.
It was supposed to be affordable, yet attractive, so put all the money in the front and in the lobby.
Many of these buildings have spectacular lobbies. The rooms? Not so much.
They didn’t have any swimming pools because people of the day didn’t expect that. They came to go to the sea.
What do you see there? You see old people.
In the 60s, 70s and even into the 80s, this was God’s waiting room.
This was not the party central that it is now. Cool.
And I like to show people this building because, first of all, it’s my favorite.
I ride my bike past this building every day. I think it’s really cute.
It is also one of the earlier art-deco buildings that was built in … let me check the date …
1934. I was right. So, this was built in 1934,
which was really the beginning of the art-deco craze here in Miami Beach.
We don’t have anything big and spectacular,
but we do have the largest collection of small art-deco buildings in the world.
This is the News Café. It’s primary claim to fame, sadly,
is this is the last place Mr. Versace was before he was tragically murdered.
He came here to have a cup of espresso and pick up his daily Italian newspaper.
This building was built by L. Murray Dickson. Now, I want you to look.
Stand here and I want you to take in the entire sweep of this building.
I want you to look for the differences because this building was not all built at the same time.
So, that side is obviously taller than that side. Yes. Which one was first, do you think?
That one. No, that one.
Oh, really? 1936. That one.
So, that one had elevators then. It must have. That would be my guess. It must have.
This was the original Victor Hotel, right here. And look at the window “eyebrows”. They’re curved.
This was considered a very streamlined, modern building.
As you can see, it has less of the curvy embellishments of one of the other buildings we looked at.
This is very streamlined. Look at the windows and how they’re in those broad bands.
You see the striping, how it goes and takes your eye all the way up to the top.
If you look on the side there, you can see the port holes to the right.
This was the original portion of the building.1937.
This one was, from its inception, meant to be tall and spectacular.
In the 1950s, it was Marilyn Monroe’s favorite hotel.
She and her then-husband, Joe DiMaggio, were frequent guests here.
In 1926, the big hurricane, called the Big Blow, blows through the city and knocks down everything.
Many rich people who were vacationing here at the time lost lots of expensive things.
That did not make them happy, as you can imagine.
So, it was decided that measures needed to be taken.
Right after the hurricane, in 1927, this was one of the first buildings to go up.
It was built by the Washington Storage Company and it is just a very posh storage facility.
These small diners that you see throughout the United States come from the American northeast:
New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
That’s where the factories and the companies are that build and design them.
Others would say that they were inspired by automobiles and new technology of the day.
The people working in the restaurant went nuts. Really?
They started shoving each other and putting tables together and I looked and thought,
who is that little woman with the big glasses? It was Madonna.
This big building, again, is a good example of what we call compatible infill.
This is a new building. It was built, I believe, in the 80s, and it’s the police station.
Oh yeah!
Ok, guys. Now, I guess I have sand in my shoes. It’s really inspirational and really fascinating.
It’s obviously an extremely rich history.
I really advise you to take this tour or something similar.
At least, just have a look at all the amazing buildings and read a little about their history.
Truly fantastic! Thank you.
Next week: Filip tries synchronized swimming