NORTH SHORE HISTORIC DISTRICT

The North Shore Historic District comprises one of the most intact and coherent concentrations of mid-20th century resort architecture in the Greater Miami area. Originally part of a natural barrier island, the North Shore area was platted with a continuous grid of streets with 50-foot wide lots by 1929. It was not until the massive post-World War II construction boom that most land was developed and that the district assumed its character. The district developed around garden-oriented apartment buildings adapted to both the narrow lot structure and local environmental conditions, using patios, loggias, flat roofs with broad overhanging eaves, exterior staircases, and catwalks. This local adaptation of the Mid-Century Modern style architecture has become widely recognized as “Miami Modern” (MiMo). The district’s MiMo architectural features emphasize futurism and modernity with acute angles, delta wings, pipe columns, sweeping curved walls, and soaring pylons. They convey an architectural sensibility characteristic of the middle class tropical resorts that flourished in North Beach. The North Shore Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.