Editors Note: The Barbara Baer Capitman archives “Historic Threads” project is partly sponsored by the Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, and the State of Florida.
A Miami Herald article by Mary Anne Equivel, published July 3rd, 1988, is titled “Preservation Group Fights to Save Bass Museum Area.” At the time, preservationists fought to make this quaint neighborhood a historic district. Then referred to as the Bass District, the area is between Washington and Collins Avenue from 16th to 23rd Street. It features some of the best examples of Art Deco and Mediterranean architecture.
Historic preservationists used a proposed rewrite of Miami Beach’s land-use plan as a strategy to get the Bass Museum neighborhood designated as a historic preservation district.
Preservationists Nancy Liebman and Richard Hoberman attended a planning board meeting, where they pointed out that the district was not listed as a potential historic district in the city of Miami Beach’s Proposed Year 2000 Comprehensive Plan.
The proposed rewrite, prepared by city planners, considers future land uses for the entire city. The Bass neighborhood has been marked for high-intensity commercial and residential development to meet the demand for first-class hotel rooms. More hotel rooms are needed to accommodate the Beach Convention Center.
Nancy Liebman, at the time Chair of the Beach Historic Preservation Board, had concerns about redeveloping the neighborhood in order to create a new convention center hotel:
“There is room for a convention center hotel, but we don’t sacrifice this kind of a historic neighborhood for that. This high-intensity zoning will encourage aggregation of property and will destroy the little neighborhood on the northern edge of the National Register district.”
Although the Planning Board members at this meeting ignored Liebman and Hoberman’s pleas, the City eventually moved forward on creating the Museum District, which was designated in 1990. Today, it is commonly referred to as Collins Park and is home to the Bass Museum, Miami City Ballet, and thriving hotels, art galleries, and restaurants.
