Pre-Pandemic: Miami Beach

Posted on by Thor

In October of 2019, Urban Sketchers Orlando went to Miami Beach to do find sketch locations for our participation in the upcoming Art Deco Festival in Miami Beach. We went to the art Deco Museum to plan a series of workshops to be held during the festival and then as a group went to several sites to sketch.

Here we are sketching the Essex House, (1001 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL) one block from the ocean. The Hurricane of 1926 wiped away the exclusive hotels of the past, and there was little cash flow available to re-build following the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Jewish families were able to lay claim to land south of Lincoln Road, developing what would become South Beach. The beach became accessible to middle-class families. Architects and investors favored terrazzo floors over costly marble and employed architectural features like “eyebrows” above windows to keep rooms without air-conditioning shaded from the Florida sun.

Henry Hohauser gained recognition for his unique architectural style and his work on other hotels that lined Ocean Drive. In 1938, he was tasked with designing and supervising the construction of the Essex House. Hohauser took on a nautical theme for the project. His work featured porthole windows, a tall spire, and decorative railings to reference the ocean liners of the 20th century. Local artist, Earl La Pan to paint an Everglades scene over the fireplace.

Miami was able to recover from the Great Depression much quicker than many other cities in America thanks to illegal gambling. In these Art Deco hotels, it was not uncommon to have “secret” gambling rooms tucked away behind the lobby.  Al Capone hosted his weekly card games at the Essex House. In January of 1942 the Essex House was raided and the owner was arrested on charges of operating an illegal gambling house.

Congress Hotel

Posted on by Thor

I believe this is the last sketch I have from the Art Deco Weekend in Miami Beach Florida. Pam and I joined a sketch tour and the Congress Hotel was the first stop. Across the street from the hotel was a wall of tents with merchandise and since the street was blocked to cars, people were walking up and down the street. It was crowded.

The Congress Hotel, (1036 Ocean Drive Miami Beach FL) was built in 1935 designed by Architect Henry Hohauser. The bold round shapes of the Congress Hotel’s lettering evoke a machine-age aesthetic. The hotel’s architecture, like many in the neighborhood, combines Art
Deco’s vertical emphasis, in its ascending central fin, with streamlined
horizontal features, such as the projecting “eyebrows” and corner
ribbon windows.

Though some artists did park themselves on a curb across the street, it seemed the best view was found by sitting  right on the street. While working on the sketch, one of the vendors from the tent behind us walked up not to admire the sketches we were working on, but to ask us to move, since people were looking over our shoulders apparently rather than looking at his tent. He reminded is that he spent $1000 to set up his tent at the Art Deco Festival. We were no where near his tent and certainly not blocking foot traffic, but I shuffled up a foot or two basically sitting on the yellow center lines on the street. This forced is up close and personal with the building facade. We had one hour to work. Frederico Giraldo, a Miami Urban Sketcher sat with us and created a bold rendition of the building. Before we were done, the tent merchant returned but this time praised what we had put on he page.

Breakwater Hotel

Posted on by Thor

The Breakwater Hotel (940 Ocean Drive Miami Beach Fl) was built in 1939 by Anton  Skislewicz. This was the first stop on the sketch walk I hosted along with Gay Geiger. At the start she offered a quick sumation of the history of Art Deco architecture. Her talk was made a bit challenging because all the old cars parked along ocean drive for the car show drove by honking horns revving their engines.

Art Deco was born in Europe, first introduced in 1925 at “Exposition des Arts Decoratifs” in

Paris and flourished internationally from the 1920s – 30s. Its influence is derived from ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Mayan motifs. Also, by Cubist paintings and the Machine Age. In 1920s gambling, booze, and prostitution that came down came down to Miami with New York crime lords who invested in the hotels, were where illegal activities happened. A 1926 Hurricane wiped out and changed much of South Beach’s architecture from Mediterranean Revival to Art Deco. Miami took Art Deco and added Tropical and Natuical Deco Motifs. Motifs include frozen fountains (splashes of water frozen in time), eyebrows (ledges above windows brought with tech of reinforced concrete).

In the 1930s Henry Hohauser added curves and streamlining, by 40s Deco was over and the 1950 to 60s gave way to Miami Modernist (MiMo). Anything built after 1965 is considered “New Construction”.

The rooftop terrace of the Breakwater was the location of Bruce Weber’s early-1980s photo shoot for Calvin Klein Underwear which sparked world-wide interest in the Art Deco District as a backdrop for

the fashion industry. The Breakwater’s perfectly balanced A-B-A facade helps make the

central design even more pronounced. The hotel has etched plate glass windows which are done in the Floridiana style complete with flamingos, palm trees, and tropical terrain. It was purchased and refinished by Jordache Jeans in 2011.

What is great about Urban Sketching is that each artist has their own aesthetic and approach when sketching. The same subject might be interpreted by architects and artists with widely different and equally interesting results. I didn’t offer any insights or instruction except for artist who asked for feedback. I experimented and worked faster than usual since we only has an hour at each of 3 stops. Results were unexpected and fun.