Miami Beach
When the arrival of the railroad in 1896 brought Miami into existence, the area that we now know as Miami Beach was just a barrier island in Biscayne Bay used for coconut farming. Henry and Charles Lum purchased the land from the federal government in 1870 and in the 1880s they allowed entrepreneurs to set up a coconut plantation. This failed and in 1894 one of the entrepreneurs called John S Collins bought the land. Collins became a land developer, forming the Miami Beach Improvement Company in 1911. In order to develop the land the barrier island had to be linked to the mainland, so in 1913 he built a wooden bridge across Biscayne Bay. A casino and an oceanfront hotel followed and residential properties soon began to spring up. By the 1920s Miami Beach had become a boom town. The great 1926 Miami hurricane flooded Miami Beach and damaged many buildings but it heralded the start of the Art Deco period when many stylish buildings went up in the South Beach area. Collins died in 1928 at the age of 90 and his role in the creation of Miami Beach is commemorated by Collins Avenue. Miami Beach continued to be a popular winter resort until the 1970s when cheap air travel opened up the Caribbean. Soon the Art Deco buildings were run down and under threat of redevelopment but local activists managed to save many from the bulldozer. Eventually the areas where the Art Deco buildings stand became preservation districts and many of the Art Deco buildings have now been renovated.
Hotel Victor, Ocean Drive
The Art Deco Hotel Victor opened in 1937. It was designed by Florida architect Lawrence Murray Dixon, who was responsible for designing several hotels in Miami Beach. Like many of the buildings in the south beach area it became run down but it was renovated in 2013 by French interior architect and designer Jacques Garcia. It still operates as a hotel and has retained much of the flavour of Dixon’s design. Click Tab 2 to see a picture of the lobby of the hotel.
View north up the beach at Miami Beach
From the air the hotels and condominiums look tiny, but from the actual beach they present a relentless wall of characterless concrete and glass. But this is the USA - a magnificent beach and a warm sea means that big hotels and condos are inevitable.
Hotels from across Indian Creek
Even before the Art Deco district had begun to decline, development had started to move north up the beach. Just to the right of the centre of this picture is the huge Fontainebleau Hotel which was built in 1954. Famed for its chandeliers and curved design it quickly became a destination for the rich and famous. The building (then painted brown) just visible to the left of of the Fontainebleu is the Eden Roc Hotel built in 1956, which can also boast of a string of celebrity guests.
Miami Beach from the air
The optical qualities of most aircraft windows leave a lot to be desired, so we don’t often take pictures through them. We made an exception in this case because it shows so clearly the geography of Miami Beach. This picture from way back in 1982 is looking north up the barrier island just north of the modern I-195 causeway. The island is subdivided by canals including Indian Creek which runs just inland from the beach. On the narrow strip on land between Indian Creek and the sea are the hotels and condominiums on Collins Avenue. To the left of Indian Creek is a residential area.The Art Deco area is at the southern end of the barrier island and hence not in this shot.
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The Carlyle, Ocean Drive
The remainder of our page on Miami Beach focuses on the Art Deco buildings in the South Beach area. The Carlyle opened as a hotel in 1941. Designed by German architect Richard Kiehnel, it is a classic example of the Art Deco ‘rule of thirds’ with with its three dividing vertical sections and the step tops capping each one. Its facade has appeared in several films including Scarface, Bad Boys 2 and The Birdcage. The refurbished Carlyle is a condominium block and no longer a hotel.
Cardozo Hotel, Ocean Drive
This hotel with classic Art Deco rounded corners was designed by Henry Hohause. He designed several Art Deco buildings in Maimi Beach, many of them on Ocean Drive. The Cardozo Hotel opened in 1939 and was named after Benjamin Cardozo, one of the first Jewish jurors appointed to the US Supreme Court. The hotel has appeared in a number of films including A Hole in the Head, Something About Mary and Any Given Sunday. Singer, songwriter Gloria Estefan used to visit South Beach as a child, and it is said that during one visit she told her grandfather that one day she would own the the Cardozo Hotel. The hotel is indeed now owned by Gloria and her husband Emilio who have refurbished it, reopening in May 2019.
Congress Hotel, Ocean Drive
Like the Cardozo, the Congress Hotel was designed by Henry Hohause. Opened in 1935. it demonstrates many of the key components of Art Deco architecture. The facade follows the Art Deco ‘rule of thirds’, with the centre portion sweeping upwards to a ziggurat (stepped) roofline. Concrete ‘eyebrows’ over the windows helped provide shade and cooling in the days before air-conditioning. Nowadays, the Congress is a Condo-Hotel, but the exterior looks much as it did in the 1930s.
Lobby of Essex House Hotel, Collins Avenue
The Essex House Hotel was also the handiwork of Henry Hohause. He designed this Art Deco hotel to resemble a landlocked ocean liner, complete with a tower to symbolise a ship’s smokestack. Completed in 1938, the exterior includes the familiar curved corners and ‘eyebrows’ over the windows. It continues to operate as a hotel, albeit now as part of the Clevelander South Beach. The lobby contains many original features including this mural and fireplace.
© Mike Elsden 1981 - 2025
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