1628-7 Various Miami Beach mh04 DUO GETS THE WORD OUT TO SAVE THE MIMO STYLE 01/12/2004
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 2004, The Miami Herald
DATE: Monday, January 12, 2004 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Metro & State PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 78 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Teri D'Amico and Randall Robinson (a) ; map: Proposed
North Beach Resort Historic District
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY CASEY WOODS, cwoods@herald.com
DUO GETS THE WORD OUT TO SAVE THE MIMO STYLE
Teri D'Amico and Randall Robinson, both longtime preservationists, have
learned the power of a word.
Five years ago, they struggled to sell Miami Beach residents and officials
on saving the wealth of Postwar Modern buildings in danger of being lost to
development.
Robinson and D'Amico decided that part of the problem was the name.
'Postwar' is a little depressing, so we decided to change it to something that
would capture the exuberance of the architecture, " D'Amico said. "It was
about giving an identity to it. "
They coined "Miami Modern, " affectionately shortened to MiMo.
Now, a key piece of their beloved MiMo heritage is poised to be formally
protected by the City Commission, which is set to vote Wednesday on the first
predominantly MiMo preservation area: the North Beach Resort Historic
District.
The proposed district would protect a relatively small number of MiMo
buildings, though among them are several of the grandest oceanfront hotels
built in the postwar boom years.
With a nascent national appreciation for the style, two MiMo books in the
works, and television shows and photographers scrambling to use the graphic
architecture in their sets and shoots, the first rays of MiMo's day may be
glimmering on the horizon.
The proposed historic district stretches from 60th to 72nd Streets, mostly
along the east side of Collins Avenue, and encompasses a number of buildings
designed by renowned architects such as Norman Giller and Henry Hohauser. It
would protect gems such as the Casablanca Hotel, with its fanciful columns
shaped like turbaned men, and the Radisson Deauville, with its curving
porte-cochere that beckons motorists to drop by.
DEMOLISHED
Some of their MiMo brethren have fallen, however. The Bel-Aire Hotel,
formerly at 6515 Collins Ave., with its wave-shaped "eyebrow" jutting out
above a row of windows„ was demolished in 1999. The Royal York Hotel, once at
5875 Collins Ave. , went down that same year.
"We had our martyrs, " D'Amico said with a sigh. "This district shows
they didn't go in vain, though, and that's the way we have to think about
it. "
Robinson and D'Amico began their MiMo crusade when they were guides for the
Miami Design Preservation League. Both being fans of the post-1950
architecture that is ubiquitous in Miami Beach and across South Florida, they
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began giving tours of those buildings in 1999.
The tours highlighted architectural details that marked MiMo as an
expression of the movement and space-age hopes of the time: sweeping
porte-cocheres, the splayed columns and walls, the continually changing play
of shadow and light in the brise-soleil walkways and window shades.
GENERATING INTEREST
One of the people that D'Amico took on the tour was location scout
Christina LaBuzetta, who has marketed the architectural style heavily.
" (MiMo] is becoming very trendy, and photographers are starting to ask for
it more and more, " LaBuzetta said. "It's cross-generational because it
appeals to the older generation, people who were alive in that era who it
reminds of their childhood, and young people like it, too, because it's cool
and hip and retro. "
With LaBuzetta's help, Volkswagen shot a television commercial in front of
a MiMo-era house, and the clothing label American Eagle recently shot its
entire spring catalog in the quintessentially MiMo International Inn at 2301
Normandy Dr.
Perhaps LaBuzetta's greatest MiMo coup was selling the production designer
for CSI Miami on the idea of using the architecture as one of the show's
signature looks in its first season last year.
The interest in MiMo is carrying the architecture to the printed page.
Robinson is working with author Eric Nash on a book about MiMo scheduled to be
published in April. The Bass Museum is producing a second book with architect
Allan Shulman.
"The minute those books come out, people are going to start coming to
Miami Beach for something different, " D'Amico said. "MiMo's here to stay. "
CAPTION: CARL JUSTE/HERALD STAFF PRESERVATION: Teri D'Amico and Randall
Robinson are fighting to protect Miami Beach's Miami Modern style.
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