Close your eyes and picture sun-drenched plazas, terracotta rooftops glowing at golden hour, and wrought iron gates opening onto shadowed courtyards fragrant with jasmine. That’s the mood Mediterranean Revival architects were chasing — and in 1920s Miami Beach, they caught it.
Drawing from Spanish, Italian, Moorish, and North African traditions, Mediterranean Revival isn’t faithful recreation — it’s romantic invention. Early developers and their architects mixed and matched freely, layering rough stucco walls with carved stonework, capping arched windows with clay barrel tile roofs, and tucking ornate balconies behind spindle gates. The result is a kind of built fantasy: Old World atmosphere filtered through Miami sunshine and sold to people who wanted to believe they’d arrived somewhere extraordinary.
It worked. And much of it still stands.
What to Look For
Train your eye on the roofline first — those warm clay barrel tiles are a dead giveaway. Then look lower: arched windows and doorways, rough stucco in earthy whites and ochres, ornate carved stonework framing entryways, and wrought iron details at gates and balconies. Bell towers punctuate the skyline. Shaded porches and arcaded walkways invite you to slow down. Awnings stripe the façades in sun-faded color. The whole vocabulary is designed to evoke leisure, shade, and antiquity — in a city that was barely a decade old.
Find It in Miami Beach
The richest single block for Mediterranean Revival study is Española Way, developed beginning in 1925 by N.B.T. Roney as a “Spanish Village.” The pastel stucco facades, arcaded ground floors, and wrought iron details along this pedestrian corridor were explicitly designed to evoke a Spanish Mediterranean street — and remarkably, they still do. Wander from Washington Avenue toward Pennsylvania and you’ll find one of the most intact ensembles of the style anywhere in South Florida.
For a singular landmark, look to Casa Casuarina at 1114 Ocean Drive — the former Versace Mansion, originally built in 1930 by Alden Freeman as a private residence inspired by the Alcázar de Colón in Santo Domingo. Its loggias, courtyard fountain, and Moorish tile work represent the style at its most theatrical.