History of South Beach
Famous for being Miami’s most iconic neighborhood, South Beach is located on the south side of Miami Beach, between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The neighborhood, however, was not always as favored nor popular as it is now. Originally, South Beach was just arable land planted with coconut trees. Its destiny took a different turn at the end of the 19th century when the Lum brothers decided to build the first house. This started the architectural impulse of South Beach, which was not connected to the city of Miami yet. Housing for low-income residents was then built, a little before the beginning of the bridge’s construction. Due to a lack of funding the construction was postponed and was only completed in 1913.
It is only around the 1920s that South Beach’s urbanization really started thanks to the development of roads adapted to modern vehicles. As for the architecturally unique identity of South Beach real estate, it started around the 30s when Art Deco and Modern style houses and hotels were built.
Easily accessible to limited budgets, housing was mainly taken over by low-income seniors and the neighborhood turned into a playground for petty crime and miscellaneous trafficking. Properties suffered from the lack of renovation and slowly fell into decay until the neighborhood was integrated into the National Register of Historic Places, thanks to a group of activists. Their involvement allowed the neighborhood to be rehabilitated and encouraged people of great wealth to purchase South Beach homes and the best architects to achieve great real estate projects.