The second stop on the sketch crawl I was hosting was the Locust Apartments (918 Ocean Drive South Beach Miami Fl) built in 1925 by Architect A. Frasier Rose. The sun was getting low on the horizon and we had to stare directly into the sun to look at the facade.
The building is in a Mediterranean Revival style with Gothic Revival influences. Four pilasters divide 3 bays. Thin, twisted ornamentation at at the corners and there are low relief panels at cornices. Pointed arches can be found above third floor windows. There is a highly ornamented pointed arch above primary entryway. Inside there is a large tiled fireplace with twisted columns separating arches and a molded ceiling.
I sat a bit further back so I could catch some of the tents set up for the Art Deco Weekend. One tent offered hammock chairs that people were always trying out. I was first fascinated by the crowd of people seated on top of the building to the right of the Locust Apartments. Both of my fountain pens stopped putting down lines so I started sketching with a colored pencil. It was fun working fast and furious, knowing there wasn’t time for any second guessing.
The theme of Art Deco Weekend was Sheroes, Women who Made a Difference. Pam had the idea of posing women like Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells and Mary Brickell on each of the balconies of this building as the poster. I should have followed up and created that image. It could have been a strong image evocative of Evita.