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Photo, Print, Drawing Americana Hotel.

About this Item

Title

  • Americana Hotel.

Summary

  • Designed by Russian immigrant architect Morris Lapidus (1902--2001) and completed in 1956, the Americana Hotel is a dynamic example of the Miami Modern architecture style, or "MIMO," which rose to prominence in southeast Florida in the 1950s and 1960s. Miami Modern was the local variant of the midcentury modernism, or the international style, which incorporated prefabricated materials, such as cast concrete, to produce explorative designs and project a strong sense of modern technology and innovation. Space-age forms incorporating such elements as parabolic curves were combined with the new possibilities of cast concrete exemplified by Frank Lloyd Wright's works. Steel-reinforced concrete enabled architects to manipulate the shape of buildings in imaginative ways, in addition to facilitating the adornment of buildings with elaborate features, including undulating concrete walls and cantilevered roofs. MIMO's reign in Florida came just as air conditioning was becoming more feasible for large commercial spaces. Nevertheless, many of the buildings were designed to capture the region's sea breezes through concave exposures facing out to the sea and porous catwalks that adjoined rooms, allowing for greater air flow. This image showcases the modernist entrance of the Americana and its curvy flamboyance, with the repeated geometric pattern of the balconies exalting the aesthetic of mathematical precision and the large scale of the hotel.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1950.

Headings

  • -  United States of America--Florida--Miami
  • -  1950
  • -  Architecture, Modern
  • -  Hotels
  • -  International style (Architecture)

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 photograph : black and white ; 8 x 10 inches.
  • -  Original resource at: State Library and Archives of Florida.
  • -  Content in English.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021669947

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Americana Hotel. Miami United States of America Florida, 1950. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669947/.

APA citation style:

(1950) Americana Hotel. Miami United States of America Florida, 1950. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669947/.

MLA citation style:

Americana Hotel. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021669947/>.