County Architectural History

Much of Miami-Dade County’s earliest development was concentrated along existing trade routes and the anticipated extensions of the Florida East Coast Railway. These early 20th-century communities were characterized largely by wood-frame homesteader construction, often on expansive lots surrounded by agricultural fields. The 1920s saw a more deliberate, concentrated development, and its land boom was the catalyst for many subdivisions platted across the county, which incorporated principals of the then popular “City Beautiful” movement, which instead emphasized form and function and Mediterranean Revival styled architectural detail. Following a 1926 hurricane and an economic downturn that preceded the Great Depression, architecture again shifted, this time toward futurism and modernism, seeing highly decorated Art Deco styles, which transitioned into Streamline Moderne and later the Miami Modern, or MiMo style.

While many of our communities were platted in the 1920s, many were not built out in earnest until after World War II. Many of these post-war single-family residential communities often display more restrained design, reflecting minimalistic interpretations of our broader architectural styles. Minimal traditional and ranch-style housing likewise displayed regional design elements that often responded to South Florida’s unique climate, including features like jalousie windows for cross breeze effect and concrete block screen walls. Contemporary architecture has continued to evolve in South Florida, with new patterns and significant trends and styles being recognized and celebrated as we continue to analyze our built environment.

In 1980, Miami-Dade County formally undertook its first county-wide resource survey, known locally as the Dade County Survey, which identified approximately 6,000 resources with some level of significance. With a newfound understanding of our built resources, Miami-Dade County adopted a countywide Preservation Ordinance in 1981. The survey was followed by the publication of From Wilderness to Metropolis: The History and Architecture of Dade County, Florida, 1825-1940, published in 1982 by Ivan A. Rodriguez and Margot Ammidown in collaboration with the Metropolitan Dade County Office of Community and Economic Development, Historic Preservation Division. A second edition was published in 1992, following Hurricane Andrew. This work broadly tells the story of architecture and development from 1840 through 1940, a period which documents the earliest planned developments and architectural character that set the stage for the global city we know today.

The post-World War II development period was equally important to Miami-Dade County’s expansion. In that period, large swaths of the county were viewed anew by developers identifying new opportunities to plat new communities in previously undeveloped areas. In 2021, the County obtained a Florida Division of Historical Resources Small Matching Grant to complete an update to From Wilderness to Metropolis, documenting the era from 1941 through the 1980s to explore the continued evolution of architecture and planning in the contemporary era titled, From Metropolis to Global City: Architecture and Planning in Miami-Dade County (1941-1989) by Shulman + Associates (58.8MB).