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Miami Architecture

Sample Image Post War America in the 1950’s was booming. The exodus of people from the cities to the suburbs was unstoppable. Gleaming new cars, wide-open highways, shopping centers with everything within one’s reach. It spawned an optimistic view of the future— one where everyone would have a robot to do housework, fly the kids to school in the family helicopter and have plenty of time and money to frolic on vacation if not on the green spaces of the country’s new garden cities.

There is no better example of this outlook than in modern American architecture, particularly in sun-drenched, mid-century South Florida. Taking their cue from the same dreams that comprised “Jetsonesque” living and lunar colonies, Miami architects dismissed the elegant Mediterranean-style beachfront homes owned by the likes of the Firestones, the Fischers and the DuPonts, knocking them down to put in their place futuristic resorts whose names became legendary at the time and remain so today: The Fontainebleau, Eden Roc, DiLido and Deauville. In doing so, they unwittingly created a unique Miami style of modern architecture that is now known as Miami Modern or MIMO for short.

“MIMO is unique to Miami Beach,” says Urban Planner Daniel Pine. “The closest architectural cousins are in 1950’s Havana and Rio de Janeiro, but these are distinctly Latin in feel. MIMO is about excess, too much never being enough. It’s about being on top, having it all... making it.” That belief is widespread. The most famous architect of that time, Morris Lapidus, whose Fontainebleau, Eden Roc, Seacoast Towers, Deauville and DiLido remain prominent in the skyline today, even titled his own memoirs “Too Much is Never Enough.”

With so many architectural styles that Miami is known for, how does one find these architectural gems in a sea of art deco, streamline and Mediterranean style architecture? A walk or drive around Miami Beach and Miami’s mainland ensure you will happen upon examples of MIMO at any juncture. I’ve chosen a few that will ignite your senses without making you go out of your way. Some classics are included, but also some lesser trafficked structures worthy of admiration thanks to some locals willing to share their city’s best kept secrets. Full disclosure here as well: I am an architect by trade, so only the best are mentioned!

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