Although a little rough around the edges, Downtown Miami is a fascinating district, where modern skyscrapers jostle for position with Spanish colonial-style architecture and ‘Little Havana’ bursts with Cuban culture. Downtown Miami’s most enduring landmark is the Freedom Tower (600 Bicayne St.), built in 1925 yet modeled after the Giralda, the famous Gothic-Baroque bell tower of Seville’s cathedral (itself remodeled from a minaret). Once the headquarters of a newspaper, it was here in mid-1950s that thousands of fleeing Cubans were received into the USA, forever changing the demographic makeup of this part of the States. Another Mediterranean-revival relic is the Gesu Church (118 NE Second St.), the largest Catholic church in Miami. Lovers of kitsch should head to Flagler St., the heart (or some would say underbelly) of Downtown Miami. Here the Olympia Theater (174 E) has retained its OTT, orientalist interior (it’s worth buying a ticket to see it). Miami’s Cuban presence is centered on and around Calle Ocho. Here you’ll find fabulously tacky botánicas (shops selling lotions, potions and magical santería spells) the most famous being El Aguilla Vidente at 1122 SW Eighth Street. Almost next door is El Crédito, a small cigar factory and shop. For more ...

Miami has its fair share of mansions, villas and stately homes, but none quite live up to the grandness of the Villa Vizcaya. Dating from the early 1900s, but encompassing much earlier styles, it was originally the private home of James Deering, a rich industrialist who had a passion for antiques, the Renaissance, northern Italian architecture and the flora of southern Florida. Now open to the public, the villa is perched on the edge of a mangrove swamp, more popularly known as Coconut Grove. Whilst the villa’s sheer size and pretentiousness is easy to criticise, the craftsmanship, collection of antiques and furniture inside and beautiful French and Italian-inspired gardens are at times breathtaking. The real credit for the Villa Vizcaya lies with Paul Chaflin, a curator who had studied fine art in Paris and Florence. He assisted and advised Deering throughout the entire project, lending his highly–refined aesthetic sense to every polished and embellished nook and cranny. For most visitors however, the gardens are the highlight of the visit. Deering was a passionate conservationist and insisted that the lush, native plant and tree life be uses in the extensive Renaissance gardens (species such as Palms and Philodendrons has not been used ...

Whilst Miami is known for its glass and steel skyscrapers, the city’s singular, vernacular style is art deco. Distinguishable by bright, gelato-coloured facades and details and nautical forms, Miami has some 800 preserved buildings in the so-called Art Deco district of South Beach. In the USA and Europe, art deco was an architectural and aesthetic movement that combined functionalism and modernism with highly stylised motif. It reached it peak in the nineteen-thirties and phased at the beginning of WW2. In Miami, art deco developed a playful, ‘Mediterranean’ feel as the city established itself as an America’s premier resort. Art deco style was used in apartment buildings and private villas, but the ‘ocean-liner’- inspired hotels of the period is where the movement really shone. Many of these can be seen along Ocean Drive, then, as now, Miami’s beach-facing epicentre. To dig deeper into deco in Miami, the highly-active Miami Design Preservation League (tel. 305 672 2014) organises a variety of tours of the district, from self-guided cellphone tours to jaunts on segways. Every mid-January, the ‘Art Deco Weekend’ draws some 400,000 people to two days of art and antique fairs, free theatre and dance and parades, all celebrating the heady ...