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Not quite Deco, not quite Googie, Miami Modern, or MiMo, exists in a liminal space between two worlds. A product of the Postwar Era, MiMo's progenitors sought to promote and introduce a seemingly counter-intuitive regional flavour to the then-popular International Style by adding a dash of exuberant, tropical luxury and optimistic American Futurism into an ecosystem of modern design that had until this point been known for its austere lack of decoration and increasing sense of anonymity. The creation almost exclusively of a generation of young architects working in Miami during the 1940s, 50s, and early 60s, MiMo was overtly commercial and American, and soon became an architectural reflection of the type of leisure and excess that had come to define the popular image of the relatively affluent Baby Boom Era. Before long, the major streets, boulevards, and beachfronts of Miami were dotted with a series of hotels, resorts, and office buildings that reflected the MiMo style. The city today retains more than enough examples of the style to give the city a second architectural identity besides its more famous older sibling, Miami Deco. This edition of Cityscape will take a look at Miami Modern, its influence today part of the living legacy of a city whose architectural heritage can easily be defined as an embarrassment of riches.
With an irrepressibly man-made aesthetic, MiMo architects sought to create a feeling, to capture the essence of a moment of relaxation and enjoyment and put it into words through the power of design. Family vacation wrapped in white, pink, and aquamarine blue, the grand beachfront resorts and hotels of this era were custom-designed to evoke fond memories and cement Miami in the minds of an entire generation as a place synonymous with good wholesome fun.
Built in 1954 by the prodigious Ukrainian-American architect Morris Lapidus, the Hotel Fontainebleau remains the most iconic example of Miami Modern in existence today. The darling of countless architectural "best of" polls and lists for decades, the Hotel Fontainbleau's signature curved design and distinctive bow-tie swimming pool has been a Miami Beach fixture for more than 60 years. Featured in numerous films and television shows, starring the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lewis, Al Pacino, and one of the settings used in 1964's Goldfinger, the hotel has become a character unto itself, part of the backdrop of American life as seen on the big and small screen.
Viewed from inside the lobby in the image above, Hotel Fontainbleau is well known for its so-called Staircase to Nowhere. The sole purpose of the fixture was for glamorous young women to ascend to the top using an elevator, so that they could be seen elegantly descending dressed in their best couture and finery. Adding to the illusion of modern refinement, guests were treated to a mural depicting an ancient European cityscape, the accent adding a playful contrast to the sleek modernity of the marble-clad lobby. Lapidus' bow-tie theme, featured in the hotel's signature swimming pool, is found here as well, repeated as a pattern on the floor.
Built a few years later in 1961, another of Lapidus' Miami Modern creations to survive into the present is the Crystal House apartment block. Today in use as a condo tower, the Miami Beach property sites just blocks away from the Fontainebleau Hotel along the contiguous stretch of hotels, resorts, and condos which today make up Millionaire's Row. Strikingly modern, and at first glance not wholly out of touch with what one might mistake as a much more recent structure, the Crystal House is yet another prime example of MiMo's enduring strength.
Viewed above in a photo dating back to 1978, the Carillon Hotel was once one among many beachfront resort hotels found in Miami Beach, and is now part of a much larger complex of condo towers constructed in the late 2000s. Typical of the era and MiMo style, the Carillon Hotel mirrors many of the same architectural tropes as do countless others built in Miami at this time, part of a continuum of design which lasted from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.
Of all the surviving examples of MiMo found across the city, there are arguably none more distinctively colourful and decorative than the Bacardi Building designed in 1963 by Cuban architect Enrique Gutierrez. Comprised of two 'floating' structures connected via a common raised platform, the Bacardi Building is a true icon of MiMo style, a prime example of the type of regional decorative flair that was part and parcel of the Miami Modern style during its zenith.
Viewed above, the taller of the two buildings features a striking blue and white tiled mosaic depicting a distinctive floral theme, a nod to the natural flora found within the region. Below, the smaller of the two structures is wrapped entirely in a much more intricate multi-coloured stained glass mosaic, made up of a series of relatively more abstract images depicting the process of sugar cane becoming rum. Made almost entirely of stained glass, the smaller, slightly later structure known as the Jewel Box is a spectacular nighttime sight, its artful exterior cast in an ethereal glow.
Strewn across the city, from Downtown to South Beach, the many surviving examples of MiMo left in Miami can confidently be said to have made as significant an impact upon the architectural makeup and character of the city as does the often celebrated Miami Deco.
Cityscape will return soon with a new installment, and in the meantime, SkyriseCities welcomes new suggestions for additional cities and styles to cover in the weeks to come. Got an idea for the next issue? Let us know!
