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Cavalier Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida, 1936. Integr

Cavalier Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida, 1936. Integral to the architect Roy F France’s Tropical Deco designs was that they must 'Let in the air and sun. That's what people come to Florida for.'

The building exudes an optimism as some parts of America came out the depression, a design channeling a bright, automated future in a better world.

Roy France was amongst a small group of architects who created the Ocean Drive, Miami Beach we are so familiar with. It’s steady increase in popularity had begun in the 1920s but was short lived due to a catastrophic hurricane in 1926. However a tropical storm wasn’t going to stop the development of the area that the Minnesota-born, Chicago trained architect visited in 1931. He spotted a fantastic opportunity, left the Mid-West and made Miami his home. He went on to build many hotels, a small number of which are still standing and have protected status.

The sunshine city shook off the depression a little quicker than others and to the dismay of locals in 1928, Al Capone made a prime location mansion on Palm Island his second home, living there before and after his release from prison. Was ‘scarface’ the pathfinder for organised crime? Ask Don Johnson:)

During WW2 the area was requisitioned by the army and the hotels now became ‘mess halls’. The ‘50s saw a return to growth and a continuing tale of real estate bubbles, booms and busts.

1n 1976 Barbara Baer Capitman together with industrial designer Leonard Horowitz and a group of activists created the Miami Design Preservation League in an effort to counter redevelopment of the area. The fruits of their labour enabled the preservation of the Art Deco district which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Whilst the original hotels that remain are protected, the area remains under constant threat by developers crowding the area with high rises.

Image: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Villa Gontero, Cumiana, Turin. Architect Carlo Gra

Villa Gontero, Cumiana, Turin. Architect Carlo Graffi. One of the many highlights from the new book:

BRUTALIST ITALY BY ROBERTO CONTE AND STEFANO PEREGO

Limited edition - loved!

Limited edition - loved!

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