Miami, January 2003

Click on the small pictures to see larger ones.

Vizcaya

Vizcaya was the winter home of James Deering, Vice President of International Harvester. It was built from 1914 to 1916, employing 1/10th of Miami's then population of 10,000. It's rather like "Versailles in Miami", in miniature. This picture shows the West facade, facing the land, and is stitched together from two images. The interior is in the usual mish-mash of European styles, with various artifacts from here and there, see the website for more details.

The North facade, with the café patio.	The East facade, on Biscayne Bay.	A gateway from the garden to the waterfront. Through it, a small part of the Stone Barge is visible.	The South facade, facing the garden.

Looking into the Secret Garden.	A view across the Semi-Circular Pools.	The Fountain Garden, from the Mount.	A last view of the house, behind the Center Island in the reflecting pool.

South Beach, the Art Deco District

South Beach is the southern part of the town of Miami Beach, on the barrier beach oceanwards of Miami proper. It boasts an outstanding collection of Art Deco buildings of the 1930's, and represents a miracle of revitalization. The place was apparently a wreck by the 1970's, but then a volunteer design preservation league established a historical district, and since then, the area has become very fashionable indeed.

Part of the charm comes from the Art Deco designs themselves: clean, geometric, and whimsical. Part from the wild pastel-plus color schemes, which apparently are not historical, but rather a more modern touch. And part from the location and climate, with the palm trees and warm weather making for a relaxed resort atmosphere.

The Colony Motel.	Two young men harvesting coconuts; you can see one just landing.	Beach Patrol Headquarters.	A lifeguard hut, pretty in pink.

Life is not all sun and coconuts: sometimes there are hurricanes.	The Clevelander.	The later Streamline look.	Geometry reaches up at The Netherland.

Winter Haven.	Another lifeguard hut, rather post-modern.	A Streamline-style fountain.	A rather magnificent spire above the palms.

More very vertical facades.	The Albion.	A last view of the beach.

These pictures were taken with a Canon G2 digital camera. Images were cropped, balanced, etc. with Adobe Photoshop Elements, and panoramas assembled with Panavue Image Assembler.