Affectionately known as the "Art Deco" District, the Miami Beach Archirectural District embodies the design continuum of the city from its early development period in the 1910s to the construction boom following World War II.
South Beach was reborn as an ArtDeco haven after a hurricane in 1926 destroyed much of the city. A decade of intense building later, Miami became home of the world's largest collection of Art deco architecture - 960 spectacular buildings in total.
The district was listed on the National register of Historic Places in 1979 largely through the efforts of Barbara Baer Capitman, founder of the Miami Design Preservation League. At the time, it was the youngest district on the National register as many of the buildings had not yet reached 50 years of age.
The principal architectural styles are:
1. Mediterranean Revival
Design style introduced in the United States in the 1900s variously incorporating references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Beaux-Arts, Italian Renaissance, and Venetian Gothic architecture (e.g. see below Casa Casuarina - former Versace mansion, where the designer was shot).
2. Art Deco
The architectural style of art deco made its debut in Paris in 1903-04, buildings had clean lines, rectangular forms and no decoration on the facades. The Miami version is a colorful though (e.g. Colony).
3. Streamline Moderne
Late type of the Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. The style emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements.

Late type of the Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. The style emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements.
Developed in South Florida during the post-war period. It is internationally recognized as a regionalist response to the International Style. MiMo styling was a not just a response to international architectural movements but also to client demands, themes of glamour, fun, and material excess were added to otherwise stark, minimalist, and efficient styles of the era. The style can be most observed today in Middle and Upper Miami Beach along Collins Avenue, as well as along the Biscayne Boulevard corridor starting from around Midtown, through the Design District and into the Upper Eastside e.g. Fontainebleau Hotel and Eden Roc by famed architect Morris Lapidus.
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