Preservationists Fight to Save Bass Museum Area (1988)

Read Time: 2 mins 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.

Read More »
2024 Docomomo US National Symposium

2024 Docomomo US National Symposium Comes to Miami May 29-June 1

Read Time: 2 mins Experience one of the country’s richest collections of mid-century and postmodern architecture as Docomomo US holds its National Symposium in Miami, Miami Beach, and Coral Gables, May 29th to June 1st, 2024. Entitled Streams of Modernity: Postwar to Postmodern, the symposium is a collaboration of Docomomo US and the Docomomo US/Florida chapter.

Read More »

Keith Haring at the Wham Bam on Washington Avenue (1988)

Read Time: 2 mins Found among the archives PostMortem, a South Beach newspaper that ran from 1988-1990 and focused on arts and culture. A full-page ad announces a reception for the artist Keith Haring on Monday, May 2nd, 1988, at the Wham Bam at 437 Washington Avenue in South Beach.

Read More »

A City Embraces Preservation (1986)

Read Time: 2 mins Barbara Baer Capitman, founder of the Miami Design Preservation League and monumental leader in the movement to save Art Deco, fought tirelessly for the preservation of Art Deco in the 1970s and 1980s. But it wasn’t until about 10 years into the effort that preservationists began to be taken seriously at the local level.

Read More »

‘Streamline Dreamtime’ Art Deco Weekend (1988)

Read Time: 3 mins In 1988, the Miami Design Preservation League held its 11th Annual Art Deco Weekend. The festival’s theme was Streamline Dreamtime. Ocean Drive and the Art Deco District were slowly progressing from a hopeful dream to an innovative reality.

Read More »

Moon Over Miami Ball at the Raleigh Hotel (1995)

Read Time: 3 mins Hosted annually from 1978 through the 1990s, the Moon Over Miami Ball was a black-tie soiree held to fundraise for the Miami Design Preservation League. The event featured a lively evening with a 1930s nightclub atmosphere, held at several hotels in the historic Art Deco district, and featuring a variety of celebrities each year highlighting a unique theme. Over the years, the Balls brought in some of the greatest talent in the industry, including Cab Calloway, Eartha Kitt, the Xavier Cugat Orchestra, the Incomparable Hildegarde, Lionel Hampton and the Swing Classics.

Read More »

Nancy Liebman: “Beach Needs Preservation Expert” on the Planning Board (1986)

Read Time: 2 mins Before Miami Beach fully embraced its turnaround in the 1980s and 1990s, developers and preservationists alike had to come together to form a progressive and innovative plan for the future of the city. Part of this involved finding the best approach to planning and approvals within the district – a challenge given its status as the first 20th-century urban district in the United States listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Read More »
Our Drive Ocean Drive

Our Drive, Ocean Drive: Campaign of 1986

Read Time: 3 mins The year was 1986 — Miami Beach was a tropical paradise that had fallen on hard times, and it was in the early stages of a citizen-led revitalization effort to spearhead economic development and improvements in the neighborhood.

Read More »
Rosa Lowinger

Video: Rosa Lowinger // Dwell Time // Art Deco Weekend 2024

Read Time: < 1 min On Saturday, January 13, 2024, Rosa Lowinger presented her lecture “Dwell Time” at the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum.  Lecture Description Based on her just-published memoir, Dwell Time, conservator Rosa Lowinger discusses preserving modern tropical buildings in Miami

Read More »

How the Arts Helped Influence the Resurgence of Lincoln Road in the 1980s

Read Time: 5 mins Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road Mall is one of the most popular shopping destinations in the world – a pedestrian promenade dotted with historic buildings from the 1920s-1960s. It stretches for about a mile between Washington Avenue and Alton Road. The outdoor shopping mall is a top stop for fashion, shopping, dining, markets, art galleries, and people-watching.

Read More »