from the Archives

Protestors Chained to Senator Hotel

Read Time: < 1 min

Miami News editorial photograph by A.G. Montanari with the caption “Protesters chained to Senator Hotel”. Description says “The waiting game at Miami Beach’s Senator Hotel continued today, as Ray Halm, left and Bill Robedee chained themselves to the front door of the building to protest the imminent razing of the art deco landmark at 13th and Collins Avenue. Architecture buffs are trying to stave off demolition of the building, which is slated to be torn down this month and replaced by a parking lot”. On the building was spray painted “Don’t Kill History Save Me Please” and “Demolition is Forever!”. Sadly, the razing of the hotel started on October 12th, 1988.  MDPL’s efforts delayed demolition for more than a year. The public outcry that MDPL created resulted in the Miami Beach’s City Commission passing a strengthened local preservation ordinance that could prevent demolition. 

The Senator Hotel days before its demolition.
The Senator Hotel in its heyday.

Miami News editorial photograph with the caption "Protesters chained to Senator Hotel"

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Capitman's Cardozo Leads Way (1979)

Capitman’s Cardozo Leads Way (1979)

Read Time: 3 mins Andrew Capitman, son of Miami Design Preservation League leader Barbara Baer Capitman, was a leading Art Deco rehabilitation pioneer in the late 1970s and 1980s. In 1979, he purchased the Cardozo Hotel with a group of enthusiastic investors who believed in the resurgence of the city through the preservation of its past. Mr. Capitman instinctively knew that a 1930s revival would dramatically improve tourism.
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Six Art Deco Hotels Facing Renovation (1984)

Read Time: 2 mins In 1984, six hotels underwent major renovations that would mark the second wave of an Art Deco revival in South Beach. According to a Miami Herald article written by Paul Shannon on July 8, 1984, Royale Group Ltd. officials secured a $13.5 million loan to pay for the planned renovation, which included painting and refurbishing in the original Art Deco style.
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