Districts

THE NORTH SHORE NATIONAL REGISTER DISTRICT

North Shore, located in the North Beach neighborhood, is a densely populated urban area that runs from 73 to 87 Streets. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, the historic district contains 473 architecturally significant buildings which include small garden apartment buildings, motels, and institutional and commercial buildings.

After World War II, the North Beach area became a lure for middle-class residents seeking a tropical resort lifestyle, and the architecture of the buildings conveys that sensibility. Roofs are generally flat. Natural stone, slump brick, and patterned stucco cover the Façades. Other eye-catching architectural details include perforated concrete screens punctuated by idiosyncratic pylon forms, projecting concrete fins and decorative modern metal details. Most of the buildings wrap around intimate garden patios.

THE NORMANDY ISLES NATIONAL REGISTER DISTRICT

Laid out in the 1920s according to the tenets of the "City Beautiful Movement," Normandy Isles consists of two man-made islands Isle of Normandy and Normandy Shores reachable via 71st Street, the area's main artery. From there, broad curvilinear streets, with apropos French names, extend and run along well-defined residential and commercial districts, culminating at a centerpiece civic plaza and monument, the Vendome Fountain

The eastern portions of the two man-made islands comprise this historic district, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Although a number of Mediterranean Revival and Moderne style structures can be found among the district's 201 architecturally significant buildings, the vast majority are MiMo-style garden apartment buildings constructed between 1945 and 1963.

THE NORTH BEACH RESORT HISTORIC DISTRICT

Receiving local historic designation in 2005, this district stretches from 63 to 71 Streets along Collins Avenue. After World War II, when hoteliers were given the official go-ahead by the city to present live performances, this area developed into a major tourist and entertainment attraction populated by large, luxurious resort hotels fronting the Atlantic Ocean.

The Deauville, Carillon, Casablanca, Sherry Frontenac, and the former Monte Carlo are among this unique mid-century historic district's grand hotels. And while their names might have evoked exotic European or African locales, the resorts were truly all-American, catering to a vacationing public eager to experience an all-inclusive fantasy right in their own backyard.

Each full-service hotel welcomed tourists with a grand lobby, as well as swanky cocktail lounges and supper clubs boasting top-notch acts; thematic restaurants; vast ballrooms, banquet halls, and meeting rooms; a multitude of retail shops; enormous swimming pools, extensive sundecks and solariums, plus a sweeping array of highly popular private beach cabanas.

THE MORRIS LAPIDUS / MID 20TH CENTURY HISTORIC DISTRICT

Designated historic by the City of Miami Beach in 2010, this district runs along a one-mile stretch of Collins Avenue, between 44 and 53 Streets. Once lined with opulent mansions owned by American industrialists, this area contains 14 properties, 12 of which are architecturally significant mid-20th century structures built between 1954 and 1966.

A remarkable five of these buildings are among the most distinctive, grand, and architecturally dramatic mid-century structures designed by internationally acclaimed Miami Beach architect Morris Lapidus. This extraordinary collection of Lapidus' masterpieces, together with seven mid-century structures designed by other highly respected and successful architects, exemplifies the full aesthetic, social, economic and historic impact that this one single mile stretch would have on the evolution of "Miami Modern" design.

MIMO BUILDINGS OF GREATER MIAMI

Although Miami Beach contains the greatest concentration of MiMo buildings in Miami-Dade County, there are wonderful MiMo landmark buildings and many notable structures from the post-war period scattered throughout the area. Following is a sampling of those resources.

Ainsley Building (Morris Lapidus, 1952) —14 NE 1st Avenue, Miami
Bacardi Building (Enrique Gutierrez, 1963) — 2100 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
Bacardi Annex Building (Ignacio Carrera-Justiz, 1973) — 2100 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
Bay Harbor Club Co-op (Charles F. McKirahan, 1956) — 1155 103rd Street, Bay Harbor Islands
Brownstone Apartments (Roy France & Son, 1950) — 10178 Collins Avenue, Bal Harbour
Coconut Grove Bank (Robert Law Weed & Herbert H. Johnson, 1959) — 2401 S. Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove
Colonnade (formerly Mutual of Omaha) Building (O.K. Houstoun, Jr., & H. Maxwell Parish, 1969) — 1201 Brickell Avenue, Miami
D.R. Meade Co. Office Building (Pancoast, Ferendino, Skeels & Burnham, 1960) — 1900 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
Dayton Medical Center (Architect unknown, 1961) — 18600 Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach
Hampton House (Robert Karl Frese, 1953) — 4240 NW 27th Avenue, Miami
Jack Justice Building (Architect unknown, 1959) — 1141 Kane Concourse, Bay Harbor Islands
Knollwood Condo (Don Reiff Associates, 1959) — 10110 West Bay Harbor Drive, Bay Harbor Islands
Miami-Dade College Kendall Campus (Pancoast, Ferendino, Grafton & Skeels, Spillis & Candela, 1967) — 11011 SW 104th Street, Kendall
Miami Herald (Naess & Murphy, 1963) — One Herald Plaza, Miami
Miami Marine Stadium (Hilario Candela with Pancoast, Ferendino, Grafton, Skeels & Burnham, 1964) — 3501 Rickenbacker Causeway, Virginia Key
Miami Times Building (Alfred Browning Parker, 1959) — 900 NW 54th Street, Liberty City
Palm Bay Tower (Eugene Lawrence & Ronald Belk with James Deen, 1972) — NE 69th Street, east of Biscayne Boulevard
Pan Am Training Facility (Steward-Skinner Assoc., 1963) — Miami International Airport
Pepsi-Cola Bottling Pavilion (Daverman & Associates, 1965) — 7777 NW 41st Street
Andiamo Pizza (originally General Tire Showroom) (Robert Law Weed, c. 1960) — 5600 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
Professional Arts Center (Herbert H. Johnson Associates, 1969) — 1150 NW 14th Street, Miami
Shalimar Motel (Edwin T. Reeder Associates, 1951) — 6200 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
Sinbad Motel (Tony Sherman, 1953) — 6150 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
South Pacific Motel (Charles Giller, 1953) — 6300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami
St. Paul's Methodist Church (Robert Fitch Smith, 1958) — 900 NE 132nd Street, North Miami
Sunshine State International Park Entry Arch (Charles Giller and O.K. Houstoun, Jr., 1964) — 1300 NW 167th Street, Miami Gardens
University of Miami — MacArthur Engineering Building (Wahl Snyder & Associates, 1959); Memorial Classroom Building (Robert
Law Weed & Marion Manley, 1948); Pick Music Library (Robert M. Little, 1961); School of Architecture (Marion Manley, 1947) — Coral Gables
Vagabond Motel (B. Robert Swartburg, 1953) — 7301 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami

Preservation