BY JIM WINNERMAN / PHOTOS BY BARBARA WINNERMAN
The colorful kaleidoscope of 800 Art Deco buildings in South Miami Beach, Florida, is celebrated throughout the world as the largest concentrated collection of this unique architecture.
While modeled on the European Art Deco movement that began in Paris in 1925, the South Beach Art Deco version enjoys its own style. Many buildings feature nautical embellishments like portholes and chrome railings. Stucco on the exterior, they incorporate streamlined curves, and ancient exterior motifs featuring ziggurats at the roofline and racing stripes in sets of three, with the architectural details highlighted by a palette of pastel colors.