Karelia Martinez Carbonell
Martinez Carbonell is the president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables
May is National Preservation Month!
Celebrate by joining the organization in Miami and Coral Gables, Florida, from May 29 to June 1, 2024, and experience one of the country’s richest collections of mid-century and postmodern architecture. Entitled Streams of Modernity: Postwar to Postmodern, the 2024 National Symposium is a collaboration of Docomomo US and the Docomomo US/Florida chapter.
“Modern Morris” 440 University Drive, Coral Gables [1968] Architect: Morris Lapidus [Photo: KM Carbonell]
The region became an escape for post-World War II middle America, shaped largely by the desire for leisure and entertainment. Over the past decades, the area has become a laboratory to explore new urban patterns, building types, evolving aesthetics, and emerging environmental consciousness.
The symposium seeks to promote a broader understanding of the accomplishments of postwar to Postmodern architecture and culture in regionally specific contexts such as South Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Themes to be explored include: Tropical Brutalism, Postwar campus planning in the (sub)tropics, LGBTQ+Modernism, Postwar tourism, urban renewal and Interstate infrastructure, Modern architecture and popular culture in south Florida, polychrome Modern and the integration of the arts, and more.
The 2024 National Symposium is a joint partnership of Docomomo US and its Florida chapter, along with the University of Miami School of Architecture, Florida International University, Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium, Dade Heritage Trust, and the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables. The City of Coral Gables is among the many sponsors.
The Docomomo US National Symposium is the primary event in the United States for professionals to discuss and share efforts to preserve modern architecture and meet leading practitioners and industry professionals.
The Symposium developed as a result of the Docomomo US Board of Directors’ annual “Face to Face” meeting. The first expanded event took place in Los Angeles in 2010 with an open forum for local individuals actively engaged in the discussion of modern architecture. Docomomo US hosted its first National Symposium in Sarasota, Florida in April 2013. Held annually, this multi-day conference seeks to engage local participants in cities across the United States, offering participants the ability to interact with and explore a wide variety of significant modern architecture and sites.
The symposium will offer a unique tour: From Coral to Concrete. The Moderns of Coral Gables: 1960-1980
From Coral to Concrete. The Moderns of Coral Gables: 1960-1980 – Docomomo (docomomo-us.org)
“O.K. is Okay” 525 South Dixie Highway, Coral Gables [1960] Architect: O.K. Houstoun
[Photo: KM Carbonell]
“What a Brute” 2801 Salzedo Street, Coral Gables [1973] Architect: Walter Klements.
[Photo: KM Carbonell]
See it to believe it! Discover the unique mix of Coral Gables’ modern architectural heritage.
Covering several blocks, this bus/walking tour will feature several glass and concrete structures including Brutalist and Neo-Brutalist commercial buildings designed by prominent local, national, and international architects during a 20-year span from 1960s through the 1980s. The 2-hour tour will showcase about 12 notable buildings by such architects as O.K. Houstoun, Walter Klements, Morris Lapidus, Roney Mateu, Alberto J. Socol, and others.
The main attractions are walking distance around the city’s downtown area. One stop with refreshments will offer a personalized external tour of a 1970s Brutalist beauty undergoing a transformation by Perkins + Will after being rescued from total demolition. Another opportunity will be a short visit and external tour of the recent restoration and addition of an iconic 1960s government building.
The tour will feature at least one Morris Lapidus design as well as a design by his son-in-law, Maurice Weintraub. Tour participants will see the 1980s “ziggurat” design “Lion Building” by architect O.K. Houstoun, who designed many projects around the city and beyond during this era.
The tour will be led by Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables President, Dr. Karelia Martinez Carbonell and Mr. Albert Menendez, architect and immediate past chairman of the Coral Gables Historic Preservation Board. He presently serves on the Coral Gables Landmark Advisory Board.
Bus and Walking Tour (bus picks up from the Mayfair House Hotel)
Thursday 5/30, 9:30–11:30am
SOLD OUT. WAITING LIST AVAILABLE.
All tours will be submitted for AIA credits.
Hello I would like to make a reservation for this event.
You should know that the two story retail building on the SW corner of Miracle Mile and Ponce de Leon is an Igor Polevitxky building that has been Mediterraneanized.
John,
Thank you for filling in the blanks for the 420 S Dixie Highway! The city did not have any information on the building nor the sculptures. Do you have the full name of artist?
OK was a great guy, he also designed the office building at 420 South Dixie Hwy, where his office was located and commissioned my Gables High friends’ mom for the the artistic sculptures along the sidewalk along Dixie Hwy, which are still there today (her last name is Martinez).
The picture of the JCI building was done by Morris Lapidus, and n architect on Miami Beach. Miami Beach was in the running for the world headquarters for JCI.
The Gables commission agreed to rezone the property and JCI then purchased the property and Lapidus design it.