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1674-1 Morris Lapidus 1 MIAMI October 20 - 26 , 1993 FREE Airline Oil/ MetH.T. Smith get pulledro: overWhy ondid his way home from an awards banquet? Volume 8 , Number 27 ai Sem :� ih 4� ^lam '' '.:.k.,:',. ew .e. ° s �zx�. ‘,1,--A.,...,'`11.:.c'i !'r x' -.. • • MORRIS LAPIDUS , '1 -4;:-,4:,,,,,i,,,,, . '-..",•`---4:•,,...f..'r.... :,,..;..-10, .,-,',4-14%..,,... . :-. - •- KING OF MIAMI BEACH t '..:;!'s..?-- :.''.; -• '--'''..;..-s'''''''' —-' --Pl—.',..'., ' ' - '''.•''''-'47' LUXURY—HOTEL DESIGN � � • IN THE FIFTIES, RULES AGAIN . ` . h`. V 1 • . I . . j EDIFI ( E .. . ... .... ,.,,, ,, '...:'...:....../ . , • REX . . s. r .3.':;, BY KIRK SEMPLE - V ' • Thai Silk smoothes its way back from Andrew �,, ., Ten years after: Miami's a -- riy Miami Robert Eighties rock rebels conve,t , `'` theater: Altman • for an anniversary bas Worse than slices By Greg Bak Omaha? L.A. life he old man doesn't have to wait long to prove his point. Where upward-flaring, stainless-steel columns once graced the grand, sweeping entranceway of the Fontainebleau Hilton Resort and Spa on Miami Beach's Collins Avenue,spindly shafts now stand."I hate to go back into these places,"he mutters as he steps from the car. Bowed forward from age and an aching back,he clamps his hands behind his waist for balance and heads into the building he designed 40 years ago, pausing not a moment to assess the newest damage done to his creation."I didn't want to come here anyway." Ninety-year-old Morris Lapidus wanders around the lobby, studying the changes that numerous designers have wrought on his original structure, searching for evidence of what made the Fontainebleau one of the most famous hotels in the world—and one of the most reviled among architectural critics."The whole thing is different," he snaps in his crusty Brooklyn accent, his mouth fixed in a droop of displeasure. "They've wallpapered all these rosewood panels."It's a decades-old design change that Lapidus has seen many times before in this lobby,but it still upsets him. A fit,compact manwho moves with the ease and coordination of someone 30 years his junior, Lapidus wanders over to the elevators that connect the lobby with the shopping arcade below.They, too, are a years-old perversion, slicing straight through his original design. "It destroyed everything," he says. ,, a s i 0 + o a . illpto . , , v ? � ,... bbw D -Stri , �" x R f4 bPY4 £ua '�'t, r c •'.' 4 * s S`. Sb t F At a 4:01:17 A 4141011444 "There used to be islands and carpets and chairs here. But now there's not a single place to sit down. And the mural set it all off.They got rid of it,too. "The planter under the staircase was mine," Lapidus goes on, "but it had a couple of marble statues.Where they are, I don't know." He turns his weary eyes back toward the center of the room, as if looking for ves- tiges of the exciting lobby he created,with its colos- sal chandeliers and ostentatious stairway and faux columns flooded with light,features of an aesthetic that in many ways defined the gilded glamour look of Miami Beach in the Fifties. "Some day," he says,"somebody's going to paint these columns." Then, under his breath: "Nothing surprises me anymore." Continued on page 28 . 111.111 •/.1.14 fteillui . BY KIRK S EM PLE October 20-26, 1993 New Times Page 27 Edifice neo-baroque interior designs, he carries I Continued from page 27 on his quiet tirade against the short- After a life like Lapidus's, that's not sighted designers and hoteliers who cor- rupted hard to believe. From his humble begin his ideas. Wings in the ghettos of New York, he "Miserable day," he says to the hotel's became one of the nation's premier ' 4— owner by way of greeting, although not store designers during the Thirties and .„0. unkindly. "Not as bad as yesterday, I 1 i Forties, revolutionizing the aesthetic of guess."Accompanied by the manager, a commerce. As a hotel architect in the A chubby, next two decades, he was made wealthy . , e • : f i overly genial sort, Lapidus by clients, adored by hotel guests, but ' 0.., points out that a huge chandelier that once adorned the lobby is long gone. He f excoriated by critics and members of the gestures to a white, paneled wall where architectural establishment, who consid- .r --a he once commissioned a Chinese artist ered his work kitsch, schlock. Other "'� """" ~ to paint a mural depicting Marco Polo's Lapidus projects included dozens of # = journey to China. The mural, he says, apartment and office buildings, hospi- tals, g " was stripped and covered years ago. a school, synagogues, theaters, �-- "This is criminal," he snorts. "They restaurants, and one of the first pedes- trian-only, ruined it.This has been my trouble with open-air commercial boule- vards in the U.S.: Lincoln Road Mall. When it opened in 1954,the Fontainebleau appealed to the guests'image of glamour but not to the In an upper floor suite overlooking the By now much of Lapidus's work has critics'idea of beauty Atlantic Ocean, the manager hopefully vanished‘. Nearly all the hotel interiors displays several restored Lapidus cre- have been remodeled,some of the build- Miami and at Yale University, and his I'll stay around a little longer." ations: the upholstered headboards, the ings have been torn down, the store- work is to be showcased at an upcoming But for a man who spent so much of lamp with oval shades and a base formed fronts and shops have long since disap- exhibit at the Bass Museum of Art. his professional life as a critical outcast, by three miniature Roman columns, peared. But the past couple of years Perhaps most significantly, he has he adapts to the new role of the beloved dresser knobs embellished with the i have seen a resurgence of interest in his emerged from a nine-year retirement to one with some awkwardness. Even as he hotel's calligraphic initials.The architect work.He is the subject of a recently pub- design the interior of a new restaurant continues his tour farther up Collins surveys the room and, to the manager's lished book in Germany, he has been on Lincoln Road. "If I don't die a hero, Avenue to the Eden Roc Hotel, whose visible relief, says he likes it. But down- invited to lecture at the University of I'd die a martyr," he muses. "So I think owner is currently restoring some of his Continued on page 31 DeSigfl of1958 Private residence, 5160 N. Arlen Beach Condominium, 5701 Ave.,Miami Bay Rd.,Miami Beach Collins Ave.,Miami Beach 1973 Bal Harbour 101 Apartments, 10155 ■ *Variety Children's Hospital Greater Miami Jewish Federation Collins Ave.,Bal Harbour the Tinies (now Miami Children's Hospital) Building, 4200 Biscayne Blvd., Office building, 1301 Dade Blvd., Bank of Miami Beach (now Capital Miami Miami Beach During his long career, Morris Lapidus Bank),78041st St.,Miami Beach 1969 Surfside Royal Apartments (now *Jackie Gleason Theatre of the worked on hundreds of architectural pro- *Lido Beach Hotel,Miami Beach Surfside Beach Club Apart= Performing Arts, 1700 Washington jects, including stores,hotels and motels, 1960 Hebrew Academy of Greater Miami, meats), 9201 Collins Ave., Ave.,Miami Beach (renovation) apartment buildings and public housing 2400 Pine Tree Dr., Miami Surfside Flamenco Towers,3701 N.Country projects,banks,schools,synagogues,hos Beach 1971 Villa Dorada Complex, 20250 W. Club Dr. pitals, laboratories,theaters, shopping Meridian Office Building, 1680 Country Club I)r. South Shore Community Center,833 malls,municipal facilities,office buildings, Meridian Ave.,Miami Beach Bonavista Hi Rise (now the Sixth St.,Miami Beach I convention centers,country clubs,private *Alba of Miami (Miami) Bonavista Condominium), 3375 Mardi Gras, cruise ship, Carnival I homes, and cruise ships.The architect's Terrace Towers, 3 Island Ave., N.Country Club I)r. Cruise Lines (renamed the involvement ranged from remodeling inte- Miami Beach Gusman Concert Hall,University of Olympic and now owned by riors to adding wings to designing entire 1961 Crystal House, 5055 Collins Ave., Miami,Coral Gables Epirotiki Innes,Athens,Greece) structures from scratch. Miami Beach 1972 Arlen House East, 1(X)Bayview Dr. 1974 University of Miami Law Library, I Below is a chronological list of most of Sal Moral Apartments,9801 Collins Gusman Olympia Theater (now University of Miami, Coral his work in Dade County.Those projects Ave.,Bal Harbour that are no longer standing or that, in 1962 *Kings Bay Yacht Club,Miami .r. * 1 r 1. . Lapidus's opinion, don't retain the Temple Menorah, 620 75th St """`�"�"�""_ 1 �� li ' integrity of his original designs,are pre- Miami Beach (remodeling) ' V as 11111 ' - '" x1'A ceded by an asterisk (*). Miami Children's Hospital Research 1 l 1 Il . .;� ,� • t f 1 8 . Building, 6125 SSV 31st St. 0,, 1938 *Mangel's,Miami 1963 Swire Apartments, Coral Gables ~ t'' lilt, � a w 11 l i 1947 *Ansonia Miami Beachr.. t ! ,#� �'` (renovation) .° all rtjt .. '�, k* tj. A 1950 Sans Souci Hotel, 3101 Collins 1964 Seacoast Towers South, 5101 ,^ + --1''111 I . , , *,~ 1 Ml 1, 1 t,! 1 Ave.,Miami Beach (interiors) Collins Ave.,Miami Beach *, l t°i1 '' , - ` -- 4" '1* 1951 *Biltmore Terrace Hotel, Miami Beekman Hotel, 9499 Collins Beach Ave.,Surfside ;* , 1952 Sun'N Surf Motel, 11102 Biscayne Mayfair Apartments (now Mayfair '�' t‘ •,..:, ' - 'NA. Blvd. Towers on the Ocean), 9195 1953 Di Lido Hotel, 1669 Collins Ave., Collins Ave.,Miami Beach O�t` �' ;�.rt*� ww{.ri ;.* .-Y Miami Beach 1965 Seacoast Towers East,5151 Collins --° �� * „� *Algiers Hotel,Miami Beach Ave.,Miami Beach `" -- _..� 1954 Fontainebleau Hotel (now Fon- tainebleau Hilton Resort and Blvd.,Coral Gables • = � -- •'� Spa), 4441 Collins Ave.,Miami 1966 Junior Chamber International In 1958 Lapidus transformed Lincoln Road into a colorful festival of sculpture and shopping Beach Building,400 University Dr.,Coral Eden Roc Hotel, 4525 Collins Gables Gusman Center for the Gables Ave.,Miami Beach Skylake Shopping Mall, 1698 NE Performing Arts), 174 E. Hagler 1975 Mount Sinai Medical Center,Warner 1955 *Americana Hotel of Bal Harbour Miami Gardens Dr. St.,Miami (renovation) Pavilion and Greenspan 1957 Lincoln Road Mall,Miami Beach Miami Beach Fire Station,2300 Pine Coronado Condominiums,20301 W. Building, 4300 Alton Rd., Miami f Maisel's Restaurant (now Tree Dr.,Miami Beach Country Club Dr. Beach the Belle Aire Restaurant), 1967 Oceanside Plaza Condominium,5555 Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Carnivals, cruise ship, Carnival 18288 Collins Ave.,Miami Collins Ave.,Miami Beach Building (now Citizens Federal Cruise Lines(rebuilt) 1 Beach Royal Embassy Apartments, 5750 Bank) 1221 Brickell Ave.,Miami Carnival Cruise Lines Terminal i Shelborne Beach Hotel, 1801 Collins Ave.,Miami Beach Opera Association of Greater Miami, Building,Dodge Island,Miami Collins Ave., Miami Beach 1968 Regency Tower Apartments, 5838 1200 Coral Way,Miami (room additions) Collins Ave.,Miami Beach 1444 Building, 1444 Brickell —Kirk Semple Page 28 New Times October 20-26, 1993 4 Edifice stop putting out more."Like much of the of the WASP aristocracy," says Alan undulating patterns and shapes—mean- C o n t i n u e d from page 28 interior decoration, the molded Lucite Lapidus,one of the architect's two sons. dering lines in the carpet, amoeba-shape stairs in the main dining room, Lapidus chairs and breakfast table where he is "He was the only Jew at Columbia. In holes in a wall, the outline of a curved again turns morose. Mirrors cover walls sitting are his own creation. Everything fact, I always remember him talking in counter. where copies of sixteenth- and seven- here is pure Lapidus: exuberant, eclec- the perfect King's English,which was a "My store work became so well recog- teenth-century masterpieces once tic,gaudy.Gold brocade-clad reaction,because he arrived at Columbia nized, I earned an enviable reputation," hung, another years-old redesign furniture and white speaking with a thick Lower East Side he says. "I revolutionized modern mer- Lapidus still isn't used to. leather sofas. Marble accent."According to Alan,who is also chandising.I said,'You don't need sales- Artificial plants occupy niches "If I don't and crystal lamps.A an architect, his father never forgot his people to show you merchandise. Self- where he had placed whimsi- die a hero, master bedroom, roots. "He was very glad that he was selection is the thing to come. Use cal statues of satyrs playing predominantly working in a field that was denied to whatever medium you can to attract golf and tennis and pursuing I'd die a martyr. pink in color,with Jews. He never had a sense of himself attention.Light—brilliantly lit windows, other resort activities. "All So I think I'll crystal knobs on that he was a great architect." tremendous use of neon all over the kinds of innovations that I stayaround the closet doors Nonetheless,'Lapidus excelled and storefront. Don't separate the storefront had, all gone," he pro- a and a Japanese eventually cast aside the notion of a from the interior,use only glass.'"A doc- nounces. little longer." bridal gown hang- career in theater. "In school, I was the toral thesis completed by a student at "Not all gone," the manager ing on the wall above top man," he boasts. "My sketches, my Yale years later, Lapidus notes, con- interrupts."Still here!" the bed. A bathroom renderings....You know,it's hard to talk firmed that he had indeed pioneered "All gone," Lapidus contradicts with gold sink fixtures and about yourself, but I was way ahead of many aspects of shop design that were ' solemnly. a mirror ringed with dressing- everybody else. I guess I'm old enough to become part of the standard reper- Though Lapidus later admits he is room lights. A dining nook outlined by now to say that." toire of merchandisers. (These designs encouraged by the Eden Roc's attempts thin,carved wooden pillars colored gold After Columbia, he passed through a now exist only in the form of pho= at restoration,he believes firmly that too at the top, walls covered in a silvery few dead-end jobs before his drafting tographs and slides;Lapidus says all the much, elsewhere, has disap- buildings have been remodeled geared. "Things change," he or torn down.) acknowledges, as if trying to In 1949 his career moved into rationalize the perishability new realms, when he was of his legacy. "So much asked to look over plans for a changes."Even after so many hotel in Miami Beach. Over years in the business, it's A dinner with the builder,the late clear he hasn't come to terms Ben Noyak, Lapidus suggested with the great paradox of an o some improvements and architect's work: that what- tab . scrawled a few sketches. So ever he leaves behind in his impressed was Novak with the bid for immortality—perma- designer's refreshing ideas that nent and intransigent as it he hired him as associate archi- may seem—is in reality very tect for the job. vulnerable, almost always ,r "If I could make successful doomed. stores—and I was a really suc- cessful store architect—why couldn't I use the same princi- It's rare to hear Morris ple for hotels?" Lapidus rea- Lapidus make a disparagingsoned. Unlike the middle-class remark about any of his,own clientele who frequented the designs."I don't think he hasArt Deco hotels on'South any perspective on his own Beach, his patrons would be work," observes William the nouveaux riches who had , Kearns, a Miami Beach- come into their wealth during based architect and admirer i and immediately following the of Lapidus who occasionally war. "If you were going to stay lectures about the elderat a resort hotel,you wanted to architect's career. "He has a get away from everything: for- well-developed defense • get the office, the house, the mechanism since he's been Lapidus's revolutionary store designs departed from the usual rectilinear concepts,employing sweeping,curving lines kids, the bills. The clients of under attack for so long.If he my hotels were,at that time,all gave in one inch, he's scared the whole paper that resembles large fish scales.A skills landed him a position with a store- first-generation Americans who'd made house will come crumbling down." spiral staircase with lighted niches for design firm. Over the next twenty-plus their money the hard way. What they But Lapidus's attitude—a steely self- an assortment of Murano glass animal years, he designed about 500 stores, considered wonderful and beautiful and confidence — may just as well be a sculpture. Water colors and oils hung becoming in the process a psychologist indicative of wealth is what they saw in reflection of the same chutzpah that pro- throughout, all painted by Lapidus. of the American shopper. His objective the movies.They had never visited the pelled him from humble beginnings "Everything here, I designed," he was simple enough: to seduce potential manors of Europe or the beautiful through his long, eventful career. announces. "I think you'll find me an buyers.To this end,he experi- homes in the United States. So what I Several weeks shy of his 91st birthday, individual of many talents. I guess you mented with the shape of did was create a background Lapidus has been afforded the luxury of could call me a Renaissance man.I'm old the storefront and the ,which would fit their image of a long view of his life, which he clearly enough to say, 'Yes, I am.' I've had an use of windows, This is the great life." Rather than enjoys talking about. He doesn't get interesting life.A hard life,but an inter- creative lighting, „ promoting the sale of around much any more,especially since esting life.” bright colors, Criminal, he merchandise, Lapidus the passing in 1992 of Beatrice, his wife Indeed, age has afforded the architect and decorative "The says, "I was selling lux- 1 of 63 years, but he genially welcomes a certain frankness about himself and accents. 8110rts' y ury." visitors to his apartment,in an uncharac- his life, and has forgivingly spared him Three forms ruined it. This has He carried over to teristically plain-looking building he the frustration of memory loss. Born in b e c a m e his hotel designs the designed on Belle Isle in the early 1960s. Russia in 1902, he will tell you, he emi- L a p i d u s's been my trouble with ideas that had served Plentiful booty collected during three grated to the United States with his par- s i g n a t u r e him well in stores: around-the-world trips litters his sprawl- ents when he was six years old and lived design ele- every hotel I woggle-shape carpets; ing one-bedroom duplex: Russian his early years on Manhattan's Lower ments: the bean- cheese holes in floating samovars,Japanese figurines,woodcarv- 'East Side and in the Williamsburg sec- pole, the cheese designed." ceilings and sweeping, ings from Africa, an impressive collec- tion of Brooklyn. He became interested hole,and the woggle. curved walls; terraces that tion of ashtrays lifted from hotels and in the theater while at New York Beanpoles were thin ascended and descended for 1 restaurants abroad. "My wife had a way University and decided to become a rods grouped in different no apparent reason;grand circular of taking them," Lapidus confesses. "At scenic designer, enrolling in architec- configurations or suspended indi- stairways; vibrant colors; beanpoles on some places she was satisfied with one ture school at Columbia University. vidually to delineate space or to display which hung bird cages filled with live or two. At some places she would go "My father was very self-conscious wares. Cheese holes were actual holes in birds. "An exuberance of motion," he until she had a dozen. They wouldn't when he entered Columbia, because walls,through which light could be shone termed it in his 1979 book Architecture of know who was taking them, so they'd most of the people in his class were sons or merchandise displayed.Woggles were Continued on page 32 October 20-26, 1995 New Times Page 31 w Edifice .. '�"` a" _ . -. . -r . zine in the U.S., refused to write about Continued from page 31 .... .. - _. 4 1 f _ , -• the hotel, an honor accorded the best Joy."All this might be called artificial and •. -. — _ , }f - new buildings. "The editor told me, flamboyant bythepurists, but who .. -- - - i • - - .„. Y `Morris, you've gone absolutely nuts,'" cared?It was colorful and exciting.It was ,®, - �. - ' ' �x Lapidus recalls. "What the hell kind of a fun." r .. "' . I ! I, _� " " building did you design?'"Another jour- The completion of that first hotel, the w -- _ - °, .a.+" - .m nal Progressive Architecture, snubbed Sans Souci (still located on Collins r► a. " - = "' ` `' ' 4.- " • Avenue), launched his new career as an a, - 't,,,,,,, ^® ` w r d him as well. 40 .� * i A ;�� , / y `. Bauhaus inspired modernism, domi- associate architect. Miami Beach was `v, ;:. 4 IN k .: ic !' ,�,,, nated by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe and experiencing a postwar boom in building i ,A, 4 ✓ . ,, Walter Gropius, ruled the day, with its and tourism, which for Lapidus meant a ' - cold Y * , unadorned rectangles of glass and quick succession of hotel projects, * ; , , nI steel and its"form follows function" aes- including the Nautilus, the Di Lido, the _ 11 ( - thetic. "Anything that wasn't Mies or Biltmore Terrace, and the Algiers, all .`,,` ` 1 f Gropius or in that school was looked along Collins Avenue. The big break -� ,sesta ' ,.,e a upon as total kitsch," explains architect came in 1952, when Ben Novak hired - ' - i•( ' I5 - `' 1, ` - * _"f William Kearns."And Morris didn't seem him to design the largest luxury hotel in ,,, - .: ‘ • to give a damn." Miami Beach.The Fontainebleau was to +�!'`, n 1 . ;' Though he paid for his insouciance— become Lapidus's best-known work. _ was shocked," Lapidus exclaims, "I designed the Fontainebleau in a , i I g thrusting his thick hands in the air at the curveand designed the rooms sweeping .-.• ~` memory of the Fontainebleau's bad press and curving," says the architect of his —he persevered. In 1954 he moved to first solo hotel commission. "Don't use Lapidus wanted monkeys to swing around in the Americana's huge terrarium;he got baby Miami Beach and opened a branch office straight lines,use sweeping curves!That alligators instead of his New York firm. "I said, 'To hell brings people in. They love it! There with all of them,' because another hotel wasn't a plan in the world that was ever ated the design with a white marble floor didn't know how to take it, so I asked came along right away. That was the done like this: the Romans, the Greeks, patterned with black bow-tie shapes. ("I him if he liked bouillabaisse. He said, Eden Roc. They wouldn't publish that, the Gothic cathedrals, the Renaissance. guess I wanted to leave my mark," he `It's my favorite dish.' either,"he adds. No one designed in these crazy shapes." comments.) As he would on most of his "When the hotel opened, it became The commissions continued—and the With 550 rooms, the Fontainebleau was projects, Lapidus had a hand in every- instantly famous. I've become very ego- scorn. "Let's not have any more snake huge (another 656 rooms would be thing—from designing the furniture to tistical,but I have to be an egotist to say I dances on Lexington Avenue," shot the added with a 1960s addition).The lobby choosing the colors of the suites to did it." editor of Architectural Forum, referring included large, oval columns with verti- styling the uniforms for bellhops and to the S-shaped Summit Hotel in New cal stripes of marble and gold, illumi- chambermaids. York. Sniped another critic: "Somehow nated at the top; enormous crystal chan- "At the opening,they invited the mayor Lapidus needed to be an egotist to but- its knees look detached from its thighs;it defiers; and a free-floating staircase with of Fontainebleau, France," he recalls, tress himself against the critical attack might be the old Beaux Art apartments of no visible supports, which became "and this poor little Frenchman was wan- that began even as the first guest the Thirties trying to do the twist." known as "the staircase to nowhere." dering around, bemused. I went up to checked into the Fontainebleau.The edi- The 1963 annual convention of the The architect,who says he hasn't worn a him and said,'What do you think of this?''" tor of Architectural Forum, at that time American Institute of Architects was held straight tie since his school days,punctu- He replied, 'C'est une bouillabaisse.' I the most prestigious architectural maga- Continued on page 34 . Beverly Hills, 90210? 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Buy while , _ t: , PM taiiPlillik interest rates are low.Visit our sales i and leasing center at The Grand or call THE CRIDIR011 CLUB (305)530-0609. FOR TOTAL FITNESS 1,Y1k1/61141 ,i, . .A Condos On The Bay 1 6 7S ALT O N ROAD MIAMI BEACH 531-4743 1717 N.BAYSHORE DRIVE, (ONE BLOCK EAST OF BISCAYNE BLVD.AT N.E. 17th ST.) r Page 32 New Times October 20-26, 1993 i Edifice in Miami in the midst of all that joy. I Deco Dermots & Miami Melrose Continued from page 32 was depressed in direct ratio of aesthetic at the Lapidus-designed Americana Hotel illiteracy and hokey pretension to the. present - - (later to become the Sheraton Bal shoddiness of the execution.I got a tern F R: Harbour Resort). The subject was "A ble case of the Fontaineblues. Early i-ia I loween Quest for Quality of Architecture," but "Undeniably,Mr. Lapidus has elevated the venue became the truncheon with a kind of taste to a kind of art,even if it is ,.- Featuring over �� �� • ', which the panelists soundly beat its 'made of plastic, mirrors, and spit....To; g , ,,.. .., designer.Lapidus recalls the occasion in those who have always loved what he' Antique & New Costumes �- / An Architecture of Joy: does, it is super-glamour.To the young The Joker, Harem, Genie, _. "Sir Basil Spence, one of the panelists, and the older professionals who have • the British architect who recently come to love it, it is super Psychodelic 60's, Poodle Skirts, t ;« designed the world- camp." Lapidus's work, the writer con Biker Costumes,Barney, Ninja, famous Coventry Ca- r� eluded, was "uninspired super= Witches, Flapper& Gangsters, �� thedral, said,az As I I guess schlock. .� -" i approached the you could call Lapidus says he absorbed the' Cowboy& Indians. hotel, I thought me a Renaissance Pummeling as best he could, Child &Adult Rentor Sale. it would bite while refusing to conform. "The ` .t` r me.' Robert man. I've had an top critics in New York — I Make-up, masks&wigs. Anshen, the interesting life. A can't remember their names Full Selection of Levis Still Available well-known hard life but now—they each took a crack California archi- at me.It hurt like hell,but I said, ,��,, ., tect, said, 'This an interesting `They're not going to change me. mor irurr ` life." - � � hotel is built of thin, I'm not going to build glass boxes." Halloween Hours 10-8pm Mon-Sun 1, cheap, improbable The criticism, however, did slice 1430 NE 163rd St. NMB 940-1587 i - materials. It is incompe- deeply. According to his sorb Alan, - tent, uncomfortable, and a monument to Lapidus was so distraught by the nega- vulgarity.'Another distinguished panelist, tive reaction to his work that he never Dr. Edward Hall of Washington, an permitted a photograph of the anthropologist, whose convention role Fontainebleau to hang in any of his was a discussion of man's relation to his offices. environment, commented that a bird's Lapidus does acknowledge the frivolity ‘ ` nest was better architecturally than the and silliness of some of his design char- = x " room he had at the hotel." acteristics. In the lobby of the M The onslaught didn't stop. In a 1970 Americana,for instance,he put a 40-foot- Just in-a HUGE Selection of genuine review of an Architectural League of high glass terrarium, open to the sky, ' leather coats &jackets! New York exhibit devoted to Lapidus's containing a 25-foot concrete mountain. ii work, a critic for the New York Times He wanted monkeys to live there; illBEST WESTERN WEAR dubbed him "The High Priest of High instead, the hotel owners permitted 13 Kitsch." Of the exhibit, the writer com- three baby alligators to take up resi- Il l�{ NEW TIMES plained:"One man's joy is another man's dence. "I wanted a feature that would ill-t`) ( 1992hell. I have never felt more joyless than Continued on page 36 ,71 €,• DURANGO Pnn[wre , %.,.14:.--...;-0-- ' '� ii $ BOOT uuu►uwt , w ,. 4411 f , i lry kiisi : 7�;. . Sunset Feed and Supply,Inc. Sunset English&Western Wear,Inc. 7650 SW 117 Ave•Miami 16300 SW 296 St•Homestead r (305)271-0341 (305)245-2935 allis 1 TAKE ME TO AN ISLAND ,......,.,....., ......, c 0716) 1d , '''...,'S, 1 - § �ids � S. � Es , s.,y >4's br„x.:.;txY� a a`E� ., A r 4 _:: .«` Y.x.� n DAY— OFF �} IA geaChW eat 4,4:, "e Or A.,< • 4 First stopon ,. a •g •.. • your vacation 1 � :: f SOUTH MIAMI 5900 Sunset Drive CORAL SQUARE MALL MWMI INTL MALL PEMBROKE LAKES MALL f (corner of U.S. I &Sunset. 9149 W Atlantic Blvd. 1455 NW 107 Ave. 11401 Pines Blvd. I mile south of UM)) Coral Springs (Near Burdines) Pembroke Pines -.,„s. ,; •' gym;, „ '+-,,- Now open't l bpm Open loam Spm Open I Oarcr9pm Open I Oam-9pm h 284-0301 345-8141 477-0393 437-6428 The Eden Roc is undergoing a major restoration that will reclaim some of Lapidus's vision ► Page 34 New Times October 20-26, 1993 r /, Edifice aboutsettin thestage tage for human activ- �' ; ,Is`''''‘,‘ ; Twoee Continuedfrompag• 34ity."givepeoplealift," he explains. "There Lapidus has become somewhat of a was no great amount of thinking,except darling of the postmodernists, a school I wanted something that would make of art that arose in rebellion to the ortho- people feel they were checking into a doxy and austerity of modernism. The .4. eS1 ) Et! Florida resort. Instead of looking at fur- great American architect Philip Johnson, niture, they could look at tropical plants in fact, was quoted in a 1990 French i and,through the hole in the ceiling,the Vogue magazine article saying he • Free Computerized sky. Somebody compared it to the hats regards Lapidus as the pioneer of post- OT'1 T Fitness Evaluation 49 L • FreeOneon-one Personal women wore at the time, with feathers modernism. The aesthetic, which Training Sessions and flowers: it was eye-catching and dif- emerged in the 1960s and became • Cybex Center& y g g Free Weights ferent, something that had never been prominent in the late 1970s,is character- done s. before." ized by the incorporation of classical � �� ` z • (including B•Ikn • 7 Tennis Courts details, the use of decorative structural >I : Wm Tenn.Clinics a Pro Shop) elements, and an exaggerated style. • Adrien Arpel Skin Care Center He was 82 at the time, but it wasn't old "Historicism was ridiculed at the time • Mamie Wraps a Loofah) age that drove Lapidus into retirement in Lapidus was building his hotels," says a • Yoga&Self Defense 1984. He just couldn't get enough work. Jan Hochstim, a professor of architec- • Children'sPrograms "I was in this depression period in 1980- ture at UM. "You couldn't ornament 13 months to 14 Neon of l • MVaset sage Parking 81," he explains. "I was doing some buildings. You couldn't make any refer Alcor TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR NEW Child Can apartment housing,but I hate apartment ences to history.That was the dogma of FALL SPECIAL NOW! NEW Sports Medicine& „ Orthopedic Center houses—no challenge. Then, the final modernism. This is the first time that The Spa at the NEW SPA Eatery blow: a hotel project in Beijing, China, Martina Duttmann,a German architec- Hahh Food Rcwunm Fontainebleau/Hilton Resort has made r NEW Salt Water Pool for which he'd been hired on as archi- ture writer who authored the only book such an offer.We may never do it again! tect, collapsed. "That week, I said, To ever written about Lapidus, says he has SAVE 50%ON YOUR hell with the whole thing,"' he recalls. always been more highly regarded in ENROLLMENT FEE! Call Today "`I'm closing the office at the end of the Europe than in the U.S. "In the United ':11— Cweek.' I didn't want to do any more States,Morris was famous and very con- hotels. a • J38 O-/7600 Vvv I didn't want to do any more damned, but he was judged on the l ,,, ,. and start enjoying apartment buildings. I didn't level of style," says Duttmann, i P,' the benefits of a Healthy Lifestyle. want to do anything." He whose Morris Lapidus: ' didn't get any offers, "Don't use Architect of the American • < •Resniclions Apply. 'Local RaddentsOnly. either. Dream was published .. �'' --� /"'� y Turning to writing, straight lines, last year. "Europeans : i ,i ' ' Lapidus completedhave always seen�e three books.Two of use sweeping how he does a really p g r FITNESS•TFN\IS BEACH'ct u� them—a memoir of r t ! '� curves! That good job of bringing A +�' "t ,,. AT THE FONTAINEBLEAU HILTON RESORT his early life calledtogether construe ” 4441 Collins Avenue,Miami Beach A Pyramid in brings people tion, function, and Brooklyn and an cost, while also fulfill- exploration of human in. They ing the task of style." history prior to the love Its" Even as Lapidus satis- fied Empire, titled fied his customers, he 11iaiiii's Best Futon Store Man's Three-million Year was able to engage in his Odyssey— he self published. stylistic "fantasy playing," says ‘,.1 p , , c„,,,, ,,,4)vii A L . t . - . The third, a work of fiction, is still in Duttmann, who plans to reprint in draft form. Then, in February 1992, Germany an updated version of • �My,> ��m ; „ Beatrice died. "I couldn't get over her Lapidus's 1967 textbook Architecture:A 1 k Y = �‘' ., „'•:. death," Lapidus admits, his eyebrows Profession and a Business. (Lapidus also plunging low in consternation. "For me, wrote a book in 1973 about hotel life was finished. She was such a won- design.) derful, wonderful woman. She was veryLapidus himself seems pleased with P ` ti �' i► fun-loving, very outgoing. She liked to the newfound critical attention, if some- .. • � r� travel,she liked to go to parties.And she what bitter at its tardiness: the books, I �, + -.ac. , ran my finances outside of the business. the invitations to lecture, the upcoming P r We made a very good team,a wonderful exhibit at the Bass, scheduled to open F ' – - \ �; team." December 23. "I got a call from my son. Lapidus, though, has survived to wit- He says someone at Columbia is writing '• " 4440. ness a gradual reassessment of his work,• a book about the architecture of the a reappraisal that has occurred within Fifties and Sixties in New York, and my the context of an evolution of ideas work will be represented.These things -.0 about architecture. "I think everyone are coming one day after another," he t just got tired of the sterility of strict rec- declares. "I really can't believe all this is tilinear design and was looking for happening." He proudly shows off sev- NEW DAWN• examples of different types of modern eral recent articles in European publica- architecture," says William Kearns. tions:French Vogue;Britain's newspaper The only place to buy a FUTON. "There was Morris doing his thing all the Independent and its leading architec- along,oblivious to the canons of modern ture journal, Blueprint; Italy's Domus, taste. He turned out to be full of fun. another architectural magazine. He There's nothing ponderous about any- keeps the periodicals on his desk,along- ii, thing he ever did." side copies of his books and the recently I NEW DAWN7 1M Adds Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk,a Miami published German retrospective. architect and' professor of architecture "My father is sort of the opposite of the FITTON at the University of Miami: "I think he prototypical architect," observes Alan represents an important period after the Lapidus."Sure,he has an ego as healthy Contemporary Designs Classic Hardwood Furniture war, a kind of revitalized excitement as anybody else's,but not as gross as the about Miami Beach. Curiously enough, charlatans who proclaim a new move- SOUTH PLANTATION the theatricality of his work was a pre- ment every other month."This attitude monition of the interest the place now might be best reflected in the cavalier MIAMI ' 801 South University Drive has for the movie industry. He under- attitude Lapidus demonstrated toward 5820 South Dixie Highway The Fountains stood that his hotels were backdrops for the record of his own work — the 667-8830 472-60044 people behaving in self-conscious ways. sketches, the drawings, the plans. It's not just about function or shelter.It's Continued on page 38 n•age 36'Hewr Times October 20-26, 1993 Edifice ideas,'" he declares. "When I Close EncountersContinued from page 36 redesigned, I did make it contemporary According to his son, only a handful of or modern or whatever else you'd call drawings are left. "He had a very work- it. But my own hotels, especially the ...of the nicest kin( manlike approach to his work," Alan Americana, what they did was horren- Lapidus says."So many architects today dous. To visit the site, he says, would . ,77,77' have a sense that every little excretion make him very sick. that comes out of the pencil is a monu- Viz' -`. ment for the ages." ' `` Lapidus, however, is not about to It was in the interest of preservation allow his historic contributions to go that Mera Rubell and her daughter overlooked, no matter how dubiously Jennifer zeroed in on Lapidus to design ; � others may regard their impact. He Jennifer's new restaurant in Miami t. opens one book to a photograph show- Beach. "We were thinking about the ing the sweeping, curving exterior of preservation of some of the structures the Fontainebleau.Framing a section of that he created for Lincoln Road," says CClasses Now Forming the edifice with his hands, he asks, Mera Rubell,a developer and art collec- anise ST English "Could this be the famous I.M. Pei?" tor. "They have been abandoned and referring to the architect whose work lost the energy and excitement that College credits on all certification dasse '_ "' ro includes the addition to the National Morris had intended. One city official, ! 3 Gallery in Washington, D.C., Boston's whose name I wouldn't mention, said, r�° b i? Government Center, and the CenTrust `If a bulldozer took them away tomor- 8 ., ,. Tower (now International Place) in row,who cares?'" ubbleS{ Miami.His voice is laced with a tinge of Lapidus renovated Lincoln Road in Dive Center , .{ & resentment. "Could this be Pei?" he 1958, transforming it from a vehicular "T+ repeats, gesturing with a nod toward thoroughfare to a pedestrian-only shop- 2671 SW 27 Ave Miami 856-0565 g' theslice of Fontainebleau. "Look at the ping mall. Down the center of what CenTrust Building,it's exactly this."But once was the street, he created eclectic when asked who influenced his work, shade pavilions in the shape of pie j • '�`l'' A: Lapidus quickly shakes his head. "No wedges,trapezoids,and zigzags,as well 1 one. as colorful sculpture, zebra-striped ..-- . . . "The funny thing is, he didn't invent paths, and fountains. If Lapidus were to il ,, curvilinear buildings," notes Jan reconnect with the road,Rubell figured, ± ! `tw Hochstim."He takes a little more credit the emotional weight of his presence ! «`�. a , for it than he probably should. Look at would reinvigorate his mall designs and ,, , , 1 the work of [Prussian-born American thwart the bulldozers. (Aristides Millas, architect Erich] Mendelssohn. I'm sure an architecture professor at UM and the �+g that I.M. Pei, if he did something, he historic consultant to the team leading wouldn't look at Lapidus. He'd look at the current multimillion-dollar redesign kt l ,,, i . Mendelssohn. But as a hotel architect, of Lincoln Road, says plans for the ,., t .. A ` f :] he did a tremendous job.You could say mall's overhaul incorporate many of < ' •.4 he elevated architecture to a fun level in Lapidus's pavilions and some :(' • ..ii 0, 3 ,i .= hotels." of the fountains.) / ' , , f 11- ' p _;;m rt p The critical recognition has "He For the restaurant, ` ; arrived too late to assuage the Rubells want to A - understood ��,�,i. *�- az_...• Lapidus's vexation, however. capture the exu- berance "Here is a man who corn- ' that his hotels berance and joy pletely changed the direction were backdrops of Lapidus's of architecture — the forpeople unique aes- Fontainebleau was a new way thetic. "When you ryFry of looking at resort hotels," behaving in you spend time NOW&THEN 3!. image ardens says Alan Lapidus. "Here is a with Morris, you s. COLLECTIBLES "L self-conscious r '��4 2 person whose work is studied ways." realize that age F ^,;!tee 4832 S.W.72nd Ave. 4808 S.W.72nd Ave. .°<� �5 Miami(305)667 5997 Miami .W. 6 d Ave. all over the world. But the man Y has-given him more `ECTt°`' was never made a fellow of the freedom than ever to [American Institute of Architects] —in think about wonderful fact the AIA censured him once. The things," says Mera Rubell. "It's unob- man has received no professional hon- strutted by the things that usually enter ors whatsoever, he has never even our thoughts when dealing with profit received an invitation to give a lecture margins. He has the ability to be a seri- ! at Columbia, his alma mater. They've ous freethinker.When you step outside SALE .. never asked for his drawings....Yeah, I expectations, that's when you create can understand why he's bitter. I'm bit- something totally original." r (r ter." "I laughed at them," Lapidus recalls I �, TAN To make matters worse, most of of the invitation to work again. "I said, t i--.!•., — ^y;^'; THE SPORT SANDAL. Teva Lapidus's projects have been signifi- `Hell, I can't design anything. It's been cantly redesigned, to the point where nine years.'" But he accepted the job Contour the mere mention of some build- under two conditions:that he be able to "" ! $47.05 ings visibly upsets him. The select the architect of his choosing ` Teva Reg.562.95 Americana/Sheraton Bal Harbour is (William Kearns), and that he receive Universal ':::"''' ' "It's�'` ���C� �-�',�• especially nettlesome. It s had so many no payment. He refused money, he $29.95-$34.95 $ �r changes.They've ruined it! I can't even says, because it would screw up his 29.95' 34.95 recognize it now," he fumes. "Some of taxes. Moreover, working for free pro- Reg 544.95-'49 95 the things they did to the interior are vides him with valuable leverage. "It just monstrous, awful! To describe all guaranteed that no one would disagree I Save Big Bucks On The #1 Sport Sandal! the changes,I'd spend all day talking to with anything I said," he explains. "I Must present this coupon you." would be in complete control." Of course Lapidus himself has played It was an architect's fantasy: Lapidus $ 1 5.00 $ ,00 the role of rem odeler on scores of pro- was handed raw space— in this case, OFF kot Word O jests, the usurper of anotherha 's original 3000 square feet at 601 Lincoln Road, iThere ntent." ve been times when an on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue Expires Nov.30,1993 Expires Nov.30,1993 architect has come back to me and said, —and told to create his dream restau- ing to be the ideas man; OPEN 7 DAYS • SOUTH MIAMI • 667-932215 'WhY did you do it?'And I would say, rant.He was go `Because I was asked to, and I had the Kearns would put it on paper. "The over- Page 38 New Times October' 20-26; 1993" • all scheme is his,"explains Kearns,who South Beach was one of the co-designers of the Pine Sleigh Bed highly praised transformation of the Surfs' Washington Storage Company on de Washington Avenue into the Wolfsonian "'KCXuz i. SOvxe Foundation Museum. "But I have lee- 11:2511��C way within his— I won't call it `dogma' Twin S475 Full S52 5 4077 ponce De Leon GENERAL NUTRITION CENTERS —within his concepts." Coral Gables Z(J! ( `5�o�y�oilf s" "It's going to be like walking into a Queen X525 King 5675 `1o445a3848pm , surrealistic painting,and you,as a diner, Thurs&Fri loam-spun • • • become part of the painting," Lapidus Sat C Sun Ilam-spm Biotin Trio says of the 100-seat restaurant,which is I expected to open early next year. "I feel =< • Promotes healthy like I'm left over from an era that's gone. hair growth Customs change. Manner of living . 4 chanes. The days of the luxuryresort • Protects,feeds& g y cleanses hair •+ hotel are over. But when I do that , restaurant, that'll be a restaurant of the 8101, future. It's going to put this town on its i�49 ear!" Not surprisingly, Lapidus's signature quirks enliven the architectural draw South Beach Surfside ings: woggle-shape holes in the wall, 540 Lincoln Rd. 9448 Harding Ave backlit in bright colors; a wall of cheese 532-2513 865-8643 holes,each displaying a glass ball;a ser- Open til 9pm Tuesdays Complete line of Vitamins _ pentine bar; no visible source of illumi- nation. The floor is black; gold wallpa- per and Day-Glo colors will blanket the I room ("Wild colors!" Lapidus exclaims. — "Colors I never dared to use!"). nnOTORWEAR Furniture fabrics will be a painter's palette of hues. For the outside, Lapidus envisions an arcade of white chairs and ~"� tables for dining beneath his pavilions, illuminated by a festival of lights. „,- "He goes into the paint store and says, -'' .. What's the most attractive, magnetic color you have here?'” 23-year-old ACCESSORIES try restaurateur Jennifer Rubell observes ' . "The phrase in bad taste'is not an issue for him. He doesn't have that kind of .•-t A•1,, taste problem,those restrictions.I never ' would have anticipated that he'd go for Day-Glo colors and black floor. People i_ get hemmed in to a certain type of state SALOON nn T°. ment; Morris's stuff is so diverse. He's ��R�� IUIiYIU UJ f-'` also interested in having palpable rele iit vance to the younger generation. I think C�,. he wants to have an influence on the ' younger generation." NOW OPEN l2 Ft.Ot (�+m4 Ili, The project hasn't proceeded without some artistic and practical confronta- 717a BEER, op tions stemming from philosophical dif- �� Ei ferences. For one thing,Jennifer Rubell 3190 Commodore Plaza s had to convince Lapidus that booths Coconut Grove • 567-9399 ) P were appropriate for an upscale restau rant. "Banquettes used to be associated with the shittiest diners," she explains. . "Now they have another meaning." GYM Plans for the restaurant now include three booths. "We have a certain rou- tine," she says, grinning. "I bring him 1 YEAR MEMBERSHIP brunch and then during the meal I say, 'So, Morris....'I suggest that maybe the $ banquettes will be a certain way. He'll ONLY 99-00 say, `Absolutely not! If the banquettes THIS WEEK La Perla •Antiflirt •Lejaby are like that, I'm walking off the job!' Hanro •Foga) •Gemma .Lou Then I'll say, `I wouldn't do anything ONLY Aubade •Chantal Thomas that would make you walk off the job, { ""4, ,p Liz Charmel •Wolford •Cosabella Morris.'We work it out like that." CALL Jeune Europe •Ravage •Molizia Just as Lapidus's return to the mall . has given new life and relevance to his 35-year-old mall design, the restaurant N0W' project has restored some creative - energy in his life. He turned to me once FL .Asii over brunch," recalls Jennifer Rubell, ' BASED ON 2 YEARS PAID IN FULL IIMININIIMMINLINGERIE "and said,`You know,after my wife diedvf` , •LIMITED USAGE-3 DAYS PER WEEK Bal Harbour Shops I really didn't think I was going to go on. DETERMINED BY MANAGEMENT 9700 Collins8732 enue This project has really given me a rea ®IL U i? G �Ve TWA son to goon.' G� � _ ► � Coconut Grove "The one thing that's really upsetting," For women and men 3138 Commodore Plaza she adds, "is that this will be the only 553-8878 448-4949 piece of architecture that's exactly as 1617 SW 107 Avenue•Miami• Morris designed it." © Across from FIU October 20-26, 1993 New Times Page 39