The Art Deco District, otherwise known as the Miami Beach Architectural District, entered the National Register of Historic Places on 14th May 1979.
It was thanks to the determination of Barbara Baer Capitman (1920-1990), who founded the Miami Design Preservation League with industrial designer Leonard Horowitz in 1976.
Capitman was highly committed to saving the buildings she loved so much, frequently protesting and chaining herself to them.
Her ideal was the area be restored both for the beauty of the architecture, and for the low- and middle-income residents who lived there. Unfortunately, we know what gentrification can do in pricing out residents, even if the original intention kept them at the centre of the idea.
More than 800 buildings were saved thanks to her and the Preservation League’s efforts. It resulted in a square mile of these buildings being designated the historic district.
Capitman’s book, “Deco Delights: Preserving the Beauty and Joy of Miami Beach Architecture”, was published in 1988. By the end of her life, she and Horowitz were travelling around the USA, highlighting other Art Deco masterpieces and trying to encourage similar preservation societies in other cities.
“My whole life had been Art Deco… I was born at the beginning of the period and grew up during the height of it. It’s a thing of fate.”
Barbara Baer Capitman (1920-1990)
Read more about Barbara Baer Capitman in Sophia Dembling’s article for the National Trust for Historic Preservation here.
Tour the Art Deco district on foot by yourself with this self-guided tour.
History Lizzie 
As a kid I used to be sniffy about Art Deco styles, possibly because growing up in the 50s and 60s I was relatively close to their heyday and probably was a bit of an ultra conservative when it came to modern architecture! (It might’ve been due to living in a flat in Hong Kong which in retrospect I think may have smacked of this style, all parquet flooring and horizontal metal frame windows.)
Now of course, being older and perhaps wiser, I can appreciate the clean lines and aesthetic curves, and appaud any efforts to conserve and refurbish the best examples, whether on a grand scale or with restrained ambition. Thanks for sharing these, hopefully the interiors are as elegant as the façades!
That is so interesting, thank you for sharing! I can understand that – for a long time I really was not that enamoured with Art Deco styles, but seeing all these buildings together really gave me a new appreciation! I really hope the interiors are as beautiful – I unfortunately didn’t get inside… next time hopefully!