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Miami Art Deco District

It`s a feeling like being moved to a gone time when walking along Ocean Drive in Miami. The road next to Miami Beach is part of the second largest Art Deco District in the world. It includes 960 historical buildings, which were built during the years 1923 and 1943.

A citizens` initiative prevented the city´s historic architectural section of being destroyed. Today the "Miami Beach Architectural Historic District" covers 2.5 square kilometers. This area was developed by the Miami Design Preservation League in company with other preservationists. The association was founded in 1976 and nowadays still cares about the conservation of buildings and organizes events around the Art Deco style. It is in fact the oldest Art Deco community.

Miami experienced a building boom in the later phase of Art Deco, the so called Streamline Moderne. Characteristics of this style are rolled shapes and long horizontal lines. The architects created what we now call Tropical Deco. Objects from the environment like the local flora and fauna was symbolized in the ornaments. Typical characteristics are railings as we know them from a ship, porthole windows or neon lights on the building facades.

Today, most of the buildings are hotels, including the famous „Central Park“ built in 1937. It was the first of the buildings which was renovated in 1987 and brought back to its original splendor, followed by many more. The Casa Casaurina for example was of them, the former home of the Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace.