Author: Dan Morey

Architectural Wonderland: Art Deco in South Beach Miami South Beach, despite its reputation as a party zone, is a premier destination for architecture buffs. The neighborhood’s architectural evolution began in 1926, after a hurricane decimated most of its existing Mediterranean-style hotels. Over the next decade, it was rebuilt in the popular Art Deco mode, resulting in an unrivaled concentration of aesthetically consistent modern buildings. By the 1970s, these hotels and apartment houses were beginning to deteriorate. A handful had already been torn down, and more were slated for destruction, when the Miami Design Preservation League intervened, saving over 800...