Now Online:
The Barbara Baer Capitman Archives
You can now access a selection of archive files directly on our Dropbox, by clicking the green button here. This project is sponsored in part by the Department of State, Division of Historical Resources and the state of Florida.
Read Time: 4 mins Flagler Monument Island is a small man-made island off the coast of Miami Beach, Florida. While it may resemble just another island in the bay, it is actually a monument
Read Time: 3 mins On February 1st 2023, a 1937 Art Deco home was demolished at 1745 W 24th Street on Sunset Island #3 in Miami Beach. Unfortunately, it was located outside of a
Read Time: 8 mins by Robin Grow, Vice-President, ICADS and President, Art Deco and Modernism Society of Australia A regular highlight (and a major Initiative) of ICADS activities for the last three decades has
Read Time: 4 mins 41st Street is a key thoroughfare in the Mid-Beach section of Miami Beach, although the area in which it was constructed was once known as “North Beach”. Beginning in the
Read Time: < 1 min Today we lost the North Beach landmark Deauville Hotel due to demolition by neglect. We captured this footage of the implosion and ensuing demolition cloud. An important part of our cultural,
Read Time: 2 mins Richard Heisenbottle, president and founder of R.J. Heisenbottle Architects, visited the Art Deco Museum at the MDPL on Oct. 6 to discuss his firm’s work restoring some of Miami’s most
Read Time: 4 mins The Cameo Theater at 1445 Washington Avenue opened its doors on November 4th, 1938. It is located in the Española Way Historic District, which in 1986 became the first historic
Read Time: 3 mins The Roney Plaza Hotel, considered the very first of many monumental beachfront resorts, was once located at Collins Avenue and 23rd Street. It was built by New Jersey lawyer Newton
Read Time: 7 mins MDPL has developed a timeline starting with the first residential tower approval in 2003 (unbuilt). We plan to update this timeline – you can bookmark this page to stay in
Read Time: 2 mins About the Author: Jason Katz is the publisher of Islandia Journal, a (sub)tropical journal of myth, folklore, history, ecology, cryptozoology, and the paranormal. He is a contributing editor at Burnaway
Read Time: 2 mins MDPL recently learned of another one of our dedicated preservationists who passed away last November, 2021. Keith Root attended the University of Florida from 1971-1977, where he received a BA and an
Read Time: 4 mins We were saddened to learn this weekend of the passing of Richard Hoberman (April 1, 1941 – March 4, 2022), another true MDPL pioneer that worked tirelessly for the cause of preservation
Read Time: 4 mins We are sad to share the passing this week of Dr. Ernest L. Martin, who was a passionate and accomplished activist in the preservation movement as early as the 1970s.
Read Time: 3 mins In honor of Black History Month we call attention to the Blackstone Hotel on Washington Avenue that often went against the prevailing racism of minorities including welcoming blacks to Miami Beach.
Read Time: 3 mins At 1000 South Miami Avenue you will find both a turn-of-the-century restaurant and a living museum for the Mediterranean styled Firehouse No. 4, that is listed on the U.S. National
Read Time: 4 mins Every year from 1978 through the 1990’s, there was a black-tie bash in Miami Beach benefiting the Miami Design Preservation League, called the “Moon Over Miami Ball”. This very anticipated party would
Read Time: 3 mins The Helen Mar Apartment Hotel at 2421 Lake Pancoast Drive was designed by Robert E. Collins in 1936 for the owner John Marsa. Helen, the locals say, was the name
Read Time: 3 mins Thirty-three years ago in October 1988, one of the foremost Art Deco hotels built in 1939 in the historic district, was sadly demolished. Designed by the prolific Art Deco architect,
Read Time: 5 mins The Hotel Leonard at 54 Ocean Drive was built in 1925 by the owner H.E. Glickman, who named it after his son Leonard. Across from Hardie’s Casino, it was designed
Read Time: 5 mins In April 1935, The French Casino at 1235 Washington Avenue was designed by architect Thomas Hunter Henderson and built as a supper and vaudeville club, featuring cabaret acts and showgirls. By
Read Time: 4 mins This July 2021 we honor what would have been the 76th birthday of Leonard Horowitz. Leonard Eugene Lazar Horowitz was a young furniture designer from New York, who created window
Read Time: 3 mins Originally opened in 1930, The Surf Club located at 9011 Collins Avenue was designed by pioneering Miami architect Russell Pancoast. It was the ultimate place to be seen. Located between Miami
Read Time: 2 mins Carl Fisher’s Clubhouse built in 1916, just one year after the incorporation of the city of Miami Beach, was located at his executive golf course on Dade Blvd. and Washington
Read Time: 2 mins In honor of the Memorial Day Weekend we present a 1942 postcard from our archive collection written by Private Paul Munson, stationed in Miami Beach to his mother. “Dear Mother,
Read Time: 2 mins On May 14th, 1979, the Miami Beach Art Deco District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the nation’s first urban 20th century Historic District. This year we
Read Time: 5 mins In the early 80s in the Art Deco Historic District, in the lobby of the Washington Storage Company, 1003 Washington Avenue, you could find the eclectic antique and gift shop
Read Time: 2 mins The New Yorker Hotel once stood at 1611 Collins Avenue. It was the destruction of this iconic 1940 hotel in January 1981, considered by some the masterpiece of local architect
Read Time: 2 mins The “Nut Club”, known in the 40’s as “The Gayest Spot in Town” with “Continuous Screwey Entertainment”, offering “Dancing and Dinners from $1.50”, was located on Alton Road and Dade
Read Time: 2 mins On April 9th, 2021, we celebrate the 101st year anniversary of the birthday of MDPL’s founder, Barbara Baer Capitman. We will be forever be in debt for her dedication, fierce
Read Time: 2 mins El Chico’s swank nightclub was built in the 1930s and located in the new Art Deco Architectural District at 22nd St and Park Avenue. In 1982…”the leaders of the MDPL
Read Time: 3 mins Once located on Belle Isle, the only natural island on the Venetian Island—the rest are man-made, the Monterrey Motel and Yacht Club was built in 1953 and designed by architect
Read Time: < 1 min This excerpt comes from a March 4th, 1940, archival Life magazine article entitled, “Miami & Miami Beach; Biggest U.S. winter resort has biggest boom” “All beaches are noteworthy for the
Read Time: 3 mins The landmark Colony Theatre at 1040 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach opened January 25, 1935, and was built for the Paramount chain. It was a superb example of the Art
Read Time: 2 mins March 2021 marks the 41st anniversary of the world-famous artist Andy Warhol’s visit to the South Beach Art Deco District. As one of the pioneering Art Deco collectors, Andy Warhol
Read Time: 3 mins To honor the boys who served and were stationed in Miami Beach during WWII, we searched our archive collection for postcards from that era that were sent by the soldiers
Read Time: 3 mins In celebration of Black History Month….The downtown Burdines had a place of real significance when the nation entered the civil right’s era. Burdines was the flagship for Florida’s first family of
Read Time: 3 mins The Deauville Hotel, 6701 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach was designed by Melvin Grossman in 1957. This MIMO style hotel was named “Hotel of The Year” as it attracted many
Read Time: < 1 min February 2021 is the 33rd anniversary of when preservationists campaigned to expand South Beach’s Historic District to include the triangle of 18 blocks east of Washington Ave. between 17th Street
Read Time: 3 mins In honor of Black History Month….did you know The ROYAL PALM HOTEL at 1545 Collins Avenue in 2002 was the first full-service luxury hotel in America to be owned, developed
Read Time: 3 mins The Georgian Hotel was located on 1621 Collins Avenue near Lincoln Road. It was designed by architect Joseph J. DeBrita and built in 1940 at a cost of $140,000. Constructed
Read Time: 2 mins From 1925 to 1992, Gatti Restaurant at 1427 West Avenue held its place as a shining star with Miami Beach eateries, serving up delicious Northern Italian homemade pasta and fresh
Read Time: < 1 min Being that last weekend was our virtual Art Deco Weekend, we wanted to bring you a flashback to a year when the festival was also not able to be held
Read Time: 2 mins The Boulevard Hotel is lost but not forgotten….located on Dade Blvd. & Meridian Avenue, it was one of the last hotels developed by Carl Fisher. Designed by Englishman William F.
Read Time: 3 mins The Flamingo Hotel was built by pioneering Miami Beach developer Carl G. Fisher on 15th Street & Bay Road. It was designed by Rubush & Hunter and officially opened at
Read Time: 2 mins Curry’s Restaurant located at 7433 Collins Avenue was a North Beach favorite among many locals far and wide. It was built in 1937 as an Epicure Restaurant (yes, the same
Read Time: 2 mins The Plymouth Hotel is located at 336 21st Street in the Collins Park neighborhood. It was designed by Anton Skislewicz in 1940, as a three story Art Deco Streamline Moderne
Read Time: 3 mins Espanola Way Village, which is so popular with tourists and locals now, was the brainchild of developers William Whitman and N.B.T. Roney in the early 1920’s. Originally named The Spanish
Read Time: 4 mins The White House Hotel at 15th Street and Ocean Drive was a three story, 178 room structure designed by Roy E. France in the Neocolonial or Georgian style. Meant to
Read Time: 6 mins In the seventies, the porch at the Cardozo Hotel at 1300 Ocean Drive had no more than a row of aluminum chairs, with equal numbers of senior citizens who lived in
Read Time: 2 mins In 1934, the young artist Earl LaPan, a Massachusettes native came to Miami Beach in search of work. Between 1934 and 1939, he painted murals and created sculptures for more
Read Time: 3 mins Excerpt from 1940 Life Magazine article entitled “Miami & Miami Beach; Biggest U.S. Winter resort has biggest boom”….. “In 1912 Miami, Fla., was a sleepy town of 7,500 people and Miami
Read Time: < 1 min The many shades of 1430 Ocean Drive…MDPL 1940’s archival postcard of the Clyde Hotel designed by L. Murray Dixon in 1941. In the 1970’s the name changed to Delnick’s Hotel.
Read Time: 3 mins Miami Beach sunbathers in the early 20th century would flock to Casinos, which actually were “bathing pavilions” that had nothing to do with gambling. The first bathing casino was built by
Read Time: 3 mins “It used to be called Motel Row. And for good reason. Dozens of two-story motels lined Collins Avenue. Some had whimsical themes and architectural flourishes. Concrete camels, mermaids and pyramids…Families
Read Time: 2 mins This past year MDPL member Nancy Usatschew generously donated her family’s vintage photographs and articles from the 1930’s- 1940’s. In the 1940’s, twenty-four year old Walter Bura was the world’s
Read Time: 2 mins Buttons that had a saying or a political statement were a very popular item to wear in the 1970’s – 1990’s. Courtesy of the Kinerk-Wilhelm Collection shown are photographs of
Read Time: 3 mins Barbara Baer Capitman was always an art and design lover. Perhaps she inherited this passion from her mother, Mrs. Myrtle Baer, who was an artist in her own right in the 1950’s.
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