Miami Beach: Art Deco District Walk

Photo: Ivan Curra, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)

South Beach holds one of the world's great collections of 1930s architecture, and almost all of it nearly disappeared. This walk shows you three styles side by side: Art Deco, with stepped rooflines and geometric ornament; Streamline Moderne, all curves, portholes and speed lines; and postwar MiMo, short for Miami Modern. Along the way you will hear how Barbara Capitman and her allies stopped the bulldozers in the 1970s and 1980s.

The loop has 11 stops, covers about 4 kilometres and takes around 100 minutes. It starts and ends at the Art Deco Welcome Center on Ocean Drive at 10th Street, runs up Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue to Lincoln Road, then returns through Espanola Way and Washington Avenue.

The heat is real here. Walk in the early morning or late afternoon, carry water, wear a hat and sunscreen, and use the shade of the palms. Hurricane season runs from June through November, so check the forecast before you set out and head indoors if storms build.

11 stops on this tour:

Art Deco Welcome Center - Where the Rescue Began

Lummus Park - The Front Lawn of South Beach

Colony Hotel - The Sign That Defines Ocean Drive

Versace Mansion - A Palace on Ocean Drive

Carlyle and Cardozo - Ocean Drive's Movie Stars

Collins Avenue - From Deco to MiMo

Lincoln Road - Morris Lapidus's Open-Air Mall

Espanola Way - A Spanish Village Dream

The Webster - A Deco Hotel Turned Fashion House

Miami Beach Post Office - New Deal Rotunda

The Wolfsonian - A Warehouse Full of Design

Plan your visit

Route: 11 stops · about 2.9 miles · walking loop
Time: about 1.5 hours at an easy pace, with stops
Start: Art Deco Welcome Center (directions)
Cost: free tour
Audio: narrated - tap ▶ Listen at the top of any stop

Stops on this tour

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