By Deborah DeSilets
Twenty years ago, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in North Miami held a memorial service for the great architect of Miami Beach, Morris Lapidus. It was planned as a tribute to his love affair with architecture and his wife Beatrice Perlman. Yet that was not to be as he died January 18, 2001. The exhibit held in cases the cuff links as bowties were made upon totems—all a wonderful swirling world of their affection for each other was made into a memorial to his life. People came from all over and signed the guest book and devoured the walls that carried the images of buildings made common in the Miami Beach skyline in the 1950’s—The Sans Souci, The Nautilus, The Algiers, The Biltmore, The DiLido, and soon the Fontainebleau, the Eden Roc and the Americana– their cityscape.
The trusty bowties Bea adorned Morris with every day as he wore his three-piece suit to the office, made a charming collection that recollected all their jaunts around the world. These little nothings, nonsensical art d’objects, were their symbols of the knot of love they made on February 22, 1929. In these little closures, Lapidus held his creativity in check as he designed over 1200+ projects which spanned his lifetime with Beatrice. A 60-year affair that ended with her death in 1994. Also displayed in the glass covered cases were personal art cards drawn, rhymed and measured by Lapidus that told the story of their love charted in the times they were living. They were treasured by Lapidus. These art cards and objects are where the Lapidus Legacy began and where it ended. Now twenty years later, The Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) will take the year 2021 to explore the love, the life and the legacy of Morris Lapidus. I caught up with Daniel he said, “We are slowly putting all the pieces together.” Truly, there is a lot of material to cover.
The last exhibits for Morris Lapidus on Miami Beach were held at the South Florida Art Center (SFAC), where Jeremy Chester, then the new director, engaged in a wonderful exhibition called ‘A Quest for Emotion and Motion in Architecture”. This exhibit revisited again the great- big-eight hotels of Miami Beach built from 1949-1956. In this seven-year period, Lapidus’ eight new hotels would redefine the resort experience for Florida—and the world—forever. In December of 1954 when the Fontainebleau opened it included every luxury a person could desire, and in the 5:00 pm news this image of luxury was broadcast into America’s living room in full technicolor! Here people saw how Lapidus’s hotels out-palaced the palaces. By the late 70’s the string of pearls on Miami Beach continued up the coast as Lapidus took on upper Collins Avenue. By 2010 this MIMO legacy was been honored by MDPL as a new preservation district. Marketed as “Futuristic, Flamboyant & Fun! Post-World War II Era, Architecture on Miami Beach. Complete with WOGGLES, CHEESE HOLES & Bean Poles.”
The story behind the style, Begins with Lapidus and his architecture that he often said, I did it MY WAY. The exhibit at the MDPL will be entitled, just that. This month folks at MDPL on Miami Beach are readying for their first VIRTUAL Art DECO WEEKEND January 14-16 week and we invite all readers our North Florida readers to get engaged with the fun “As there’s No Place Like Home” virtually opens with exhibits and events that take you on an in your home stay-cation with Miami Beach. And then all year take trips with us in-state as we explore the works and the world of Morris Lapidus at the hey-day of Miami Beach; aptly so the last book Lapidus was reading was the Rat Pack! For more information regarding the events contact [email protected]. Contact me at [email protected] for any information. And if you have memorabilia of these wonderful buildings please feel free to share your holiday with us!!!
