Miami Beach’s Art Deco Historic District is outstanding for its unique buildings. Miami Beach and its surroundings were changing quickly in the 1920s, but the Great Depression ended most construction. The later 1930s witnessed renewed building and a continuation of the Tropical Art Deco style, with its local variation known as Miami Modern or MiMo. Admire pastel buildings with balconied fronts in one of the world’s first 20th-century historic districts.
If visiting the Art Deco Historic District for only a short time, put Ocean Drive on your must-see list. Enter stores and restaurants that stay open until late many clubs don’t close until five in the morning. Cross the road to a park and boardwalk with the beach on the other side and open until midnight.
Shop surrounded by Tropical Art Deco on the Lincoln Road Mall, originally designed as the 5th Avenue of the South, with many designer stores and fine restaurants. The popular Colony Theatre on this road always has interesting performances and events on the calendar.
Stay at one of several art deco hotels in the area including the iconic Colony Hotel that was one of the first MiMo buildings. The Celino South Beach hotel has restaurants and a glass-bottom rooftop pool. The Hotel of South Beach has oversized porthole windows and a rooftop mast that displays its former name of Tiffany Hotel.
On Collins Avenue find the Bass Museum of Art, which was described as the first Tropical Art Deco building when it opened in 1930 and served as a library until 1962. Look for Jerry’s Famous Deli on this street in its 1940 building. Even the United States Post Office has a period home in its 1937 structure on Washington Avenue. Also on Washington Avenue is the Jewish Museum of Florida, which was a synagogue until 1993.
In Miami Beach’s Art Deco Historic District it seems as if time stopped in the 1930s. Its appeal today is very contemporary.
