Behind South Florida’s Mid-Century (MiMo) Design Scene
In
the years following the second world war, the industries of
hospitality, construction and real estate were among those that
benefited greatly from South Florida’s post-war boom. Fueled by a
precipitating population and a disproportionate share of the nation’s
optimism, South Florida was propelled into being one of America’s
most-familiar destinations and greatest economies. Within the first ten
years, South Florida had eschewed its sleepy resort-town beginnings and
had become a burgeoning metropolis of lavish waterfront hotels and
surfeit of individualistic single-family homes. Behind the screen of
success and glowing international popularity, the region also developed a
unique enclave for modernist architecture of the international style.
The style was so unique it was later coined (MiMo), an acronym of “Miami Modernism”. The style brought notoriety to the region in the following decades, and a sort of regional authenticity. South Florida achieved this in part, by creating an allure for young architectural students immediately after the war.
Of
those who descended upon South Florida at the time— mainly discharged
military personnel, growing transportation and tech industries, as well
as retirees from northern states. South Florida had a well-calculated
allure. It attracted audiences through billboards, magazines, brochures
and television. Television became the most important as it best captured
the character and charm of South Florida, transposing it to a national
audience that was easily captivated by the area’s relative exoticism.
Among the young architectural students most intrigued by this were those
enrolled in the avant-garde schools. Students studying modernism in
universities such as Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Illinois—
my grandfather, William H. Arthur III among them.
Dissemination of
South Florida’s architectural culture was relatively prolific in the
nation and it was Time Life Magazine’s June 5, 1950 issue featuring Igor B. Polevitzky’s Birdcage House” that attracted my grandfather to South Florida the most. Built on Miami’s Venetian Islands,
the article featured photos of the home and briefly explained how the
architect wanted to create a space for outdoor living through
disambiguation of its exterior envelope.
Students
at the University of Illinois read the article, but already knew of the
nascent architectural community brewing in South Florida and the unique
buildings it was cultivating along its waterfronts. With an interest in
working with Polevitzky specifically, my grandfather learned that the
architect would be visiting his university as part of a lecture series.
He also learned that Polevitzky was an avid fan of then-emerging music
composer Igor Stravinsky,
whom luckily for my grandfather, was participating in the University’s
music program. My grandfather purchased two tickets to a concert
featuring Stravinsky and pitched Polevitzky for a job. He then moved to
Miami and worked as Polevitzky’s assistant for the next twelve years.
In
South Florida 1950, the new population consisted of automobile-philes
and strong sentiments for self-mobility. Determined to live in
estate-style, single-family homes, shop in the most elegant stores and
leisure in the most imaginative hotels, my grandfather noted that the
population had an insatiable appetite for diversity. This was reflected
in its demand for design talent which made requirements for new-coming
architects challenging. New architects and draftsmen were only able
maintain employment if they learned quickly and adapted well to
high-demand work environments.
On-going
civil projects of the region further capitulated a burden onto these
architects. In Miami for example, the city disbanded its downtown in the
late 1950s and urban growth began to radiate into several different
patterns. This exacerbated needs for unique housing and retail solutions
while applying significant stress on the ability of architects and
planners to implement effective plans. As a result of their partial
failures, areas of the city began to polarize, particularly in the
residential sector where government subsidies had an unintentional
effect of standardizing homes, further distinguishing certain
neighborhoods from their privately-funded counterparts. As competition
and distinction increased, so did developers’ demands for outstanding
locales. This mechanism further prompted the needs for architects to
create the latest and most-competitive attractions. Their responses
resulted in some of the nation’s most innovative and successful
accomplishments in retail design known at that time.
With
an emerging tourism market also shining upon South Florida, there
became a competitive industry in hospitality. As each hotel or resort
was built, it seemed a newer emerged, and often next door or even by the
same architect as in the case of the Fontainebleau of Miami, built 1954 and its neighboring Eden Roc,
built 1955. Such happenings drew additional endeavor from architects,
as developers became only willing to invest in the best talents he or
she knew existed. The built environment began to emerge as competitively
as it did rapidly, and not just physically but also culturally. Firms
of the period responded satisfactorily to this demand by providing new
and stimulating architecture, much to the credit of eclectic
personalities such as Morris Lapidius, who believed in applying ideas of carnivality and spotlight to his firm’s hotel designs.
Most
of the drafting tables of the Lapidius office, like the other firms of
South Florida, were manned with young architects and draftsmen, who
found themselves working long hours and developing a strong dedication
to the city. Constantly thinking of ways to thrill their clients and
make their designs more exciting, the architectural
community grew increasingly collaborative. Through long discussions,
which often took place at supper clubs, dinner parties and social
events, architects were constantly pinning new ideas to each other
outside the office. Favorite hang-out spots included the Red Coach Inn, once
located along Miami’s Biscayne Blvd hosting “the Longest Bar In the
World”. Igor Polevitzky would famously order the house prime rib while
my grandfather, scoured the menu for something more affordable. Eager to
attend the same social events, he and my grandmother later admitted to
arriving at restaurants with a can of beans heating under the hood of
the car and eating them in the parking lot just so they could be part of
the discussion without ordering something expensive.
Some
of the discussions led to highly-intellectual discourse and this
contributed to the community’s desire to build its own academic programs
for architecture, a long-standing goal of South Florida as originally
envisioned by George Merrick. First, the University of Miami revamped its previous architecture program immediately after the war. Then a new kind of university, Florida Atlantic University,
was built twelve years later with my grandfather elected to its board
of directors. The creation of the schools had an interesting effect of
increasing the introversion of South Florida’s architectural community,
which in-turn contributed to the uniqueness of the international style
it is now recognized and admired for.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s
hatred for South Florida’s enclave was well-known, while attention and
praises from other worldly designers such as Clarence S. Stein, author
of Towards New Towns for America and Le Corbusier, the pronounced leader of modern architecture
were less publicized. As the slowing of the post-war boom in South
Florida drew nearer, an economic event known as the “Flash crash of
1962″ brought an intermittent slow-down to construction. With a
simultaneous influx of new architects arriving to South Florida via the
Cuban diaspora, the two events forced many of the original post-war
firms to reorganize, disband or retire. Since restructuring, few
sentiments of the original architectural practices of South Florida
remained. ∎
Continue reading at: www.whaiv.us
Questions or comments? You may reach out to William at info@whaiv.us
