Tropical Deco -Architecture and Design of Old Miami Beach

The buildings shown reflect a regional take on Art Deco, one that softened the movement's cosmopolitan geometry with pastel color and tropical ornament suited to the Florida coast. At the time of publication, the district had just been named to the National Register of Historic Places, and this book played a real part in bringing renewed attention to its preservation.

Cerwinske's text moves through the history of Miami Beach as a resort city built on fantasy and reinvention, then turns to the architects and builders who gave the district its particular character in the 1930s. Kaminsky's photographs, taken over roughly a year in the neighborhood, document porthole windows, terrazzo floors, neon signage, and the rounded corners and racing stripes that define the local style. The pairing of essay and image gives the book a documentary quality rare among design books of its period, closer to preservation record than coffee table showpiece.

Laura Cerwinske is a writer on architecture, interior design, and fine art whose work has appeared in numerous publications, and her connection to Miami Beach is personal as well as professional, since her parents met there. David Kaminsky is a Miami-based architectural photographer who spent a year photographing the district for this project. Together they produced a book that helped shift how Miami Beach's Art Deco buildings were seen, from aging relics to architecture worth saving.

This book remains a foundational reference for anyone interested in the Art Deco District's early preservation history, and it holds particular appeal for collectors of Miami memorabilia and regional architecture. Its photographs are still widely cited in later books and articles on the subject, and the compact format makes it as easy to browse casually as to consult for research.