Carlyle and Cardozo - Ocean Drive's Movie Stars

A stop on Miami Beach: Art Deco District Walk, a free self-guided tour.

These two neighbors at 13th Street are where the preservation fight scored early wins: the Carlyle and the Cardozo were among the first Deco hotels saved by the Miami Design Preservation League.

The Carlyle, by Richard Kiehnel and John Elliott, opened around 1939 with a strong, symmetrical front and bands of windows racing around its corners. Next door, the Cardozo, from Henry Hohauser's firm in 1939, shows the softer Streamline Moderne: rounded corners and smooth curves like the bow of an ocean liner.

Both have spent time in front of the camera. The Carlyle's facade played the drag nightclub in the 1996 comedy The Birdcage, and the Cardozo appears in Frank Sinatra's 1959 film A Hole in the Head and in There's Something About Mary. The Cardozo was later bought by Gloria and Emilio Estefan, the couple at the center of Miami's Latin pop boom.

As you look along the block, notice how often Deco designers grouped details in threes: windows, bands and steps.

Getting here: Continue north on Ocean Drive to 13th Street; the Carlyle is at 1250 Ocean Drive and the Cardozo on the corner at 1300.

Did you know?: The Cardozo is named for Benjamin Cardozo, appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1932 and only the second Jewish justice in the court's history.

Photo op: From the park across Ocean Drive, line up the Carlyle and the Cardozo side by side; morning sun lights their ocean-facing fronts.

More on Wikipedia: The Birdcage · Benjamin N. Cardozo · Gloria Estefan · Emilio Estefan

Carlyle and Cardozo - Ocean Drive's Movie Stars

Stops on this tour