Miami art deco architecture, **Florida art deco or tropical art deco[1]​ is the Floridian variant of the art deco architectural and decorative style of the 1920s,[2]​[3]​ which constitutes one of the emblematic symbols of the city of Miami.[4]​.

Origins

The art deco style emerged during the belle époque in France, just before the First World War. It succeeded modernism "Modernism (art)") or art nouveau, popular in the 1890s and 1900s, and developed throughout the world during the 1920s and 1930s. "tropical": a modern and retro-futuristic architectural style based on elemental geometric shapes, with decorative ornaments[6]​ and a mixture of white, yellow, blue, green, pink, mauve, orange and red colors, with pastel "Pastel (color)") or bright tones, inspired by tropical vegetation and the Atlantic Ocean, with style variants (traditional, streamline moderne, modern Miami or MiMo architecture, etc.), all in a paradisiacal setting of beaches, palm trees, American cars and tropical climate.

Between 1926 and 1944, more than eight hundred hotels, restaurants, bars, houses, shops and various buildings were built in this style, particularly on the seafront avenues Ocean Drive "Ocean Drive (Miami Beach)"), Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue of the Miami Beach Historic Architectural District (or Miami Beach Art Deco District) of South Beach, in Miami Beach.[7] This architectural landscape contributed to the success of the first waves of tourism and the acquisition of vacation homes in Miami Beach. Florida during the interwar period.

Rehabilitation in the 1980s

In the 1970s this style became old and out of fashion, and major demolition projects were proposed for this building stock, which was then very deteriorated. In 1976, the New York journalist Barbara Baer Capitman founded, together with numerous Miami architects, the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) association[8]​ with the aim of raising funds for the complete renovation of this architectural heritage - which also included the addition of colors and the enhancement of the facades at night with neon lights[9]​ - and to have the entire historic neighborhood cataloged in the National Register of Historic Places of the United States. something that occurred on May 14, 1979 under the name of the Miami Beach Historic Architectural District.[10]​[11]​ She stated: «My entire life is marked by art deco. I was born in its beginnings and grew up during its heyday. It's a question of destiny."[12]​[13]​.

This architectural style quickly became one of the internationally emblematic symbols of Miami and the historic architectural district of Miami Beach, which is the main tourist area of ​​Miami Beach and is home to the largest concentration of art deco style buildings in the world, with 960 listed historic properties.[14]​.