Miami Design Preservation League

The Miami Design Preservation League runs the Art Deco Museum and Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive, in South Beach’s Art Deco District. Start with the museum’s educational video, then join a guided walk to see Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival and Miami Modern buildings up close. Guides explain architectural details and the area’s history, and some tours include a look inside elegant hotel lobbies. The small gift shop sells vintage postcards, too. It’s a useful stop if you want context for the historic buildings along Ocean Drive.

A preservation group on Ocean Drive

The Miami Design Preservation League is a nonprofit founded in 1976 to preserve, protect and promote the architecture of Miami and Miami Beach. Its work helped bring attention to the historic buildings that define the Miami Beach Architectural Historic Districts.

In 1979, the Art Deco District was added to the National Register of Historic Places following a preservation campaign led by community activist Barbara Baer Capitman, a co-founder of the league. The district contains more than 800 preserved historic buildings, including examples of architectural styles beyond Art Deco.

What the walking tour covers

The league’s guided Art Deco walk introduces visitors to Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival and Miami Modern architecture. The route passes hotels, restaurants and other commercial buildings, with guides pointing out details on their exteriors and explaining the history behind the designs.

Some tours also enter a few hotel lobbies, where you can see interior features at close range. Guides discuss the buildings’ materials and design, as well as the people who created them. The walk is a good fit if you want more than a photo of Ocean Drive’s façades and would like to understand what you are looking at.