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Commercial Building Complex 83 SW 8th Street/729 SW 1st Avenue Designation Report September 1, 2009 Agenda Historic and Environmental Preservation Board City of Miami COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS 83 SW 8TH STREET/729 SW 1ST AVENUE Commercial Building Complex 83 SW 8TH Street/729 SW 1ST Avenue Designation Report Table of Contents I. General Information II. Significance III. Description IV. Planning Context V. Bibliography 3 Commercial Building Complex 83 SW 8TH Street/729 SW 1ST Avenue Designation Report I. General Information Note: There are actually three distinct buildings that are included within the same folio number, therefore, while there are several mailing addresses there is one master address at 83 SW 8th Street/729 SW 1st Avenue. The former addresses were 83 SW 8th Street, 87 SW 8th Street, and 93 SW 8th Street. There is a 729 SW 1st Avenue recorded in city directories (which is the current mailing address for Transit Lounge Bar), but it is not recognized in the Assessor’s office records). Historic and Current Name: Historic name – None (Multiple, Successive Tenants) Current name – Transit Lounge, Napoleon’s, Avenue E Jazz Club Dates of Construction: c. 1924 Location: Northeast corner of SW 8th Street and SW 1st Avenue Folio # 01-0205-030-2020 Present Owner: Aguero & Co. Export, Inc. 6575 SW 27th Street Miami, FL 33155-2956 Present Use: Nightclub Zoning SD-7, Central Brickell Rapid Transit Commercial-Residential District Boundary (Legal) Description Lots 13-14 & 15, less E 50 ft. & less, Street Block 53, of the Plat of City of Miami South Plat Book B at page 41 of the public records of Miami-Dade County, FL. 4 Commercial Building Complex 83 SW 8TH Street/729 SW 1ST Avenue Designation Report II. Significance Statement of Significance The three united buildings are typical of 1920s Masonry Vernacular Commercial style in design and materials. The corner building has a raised and shaped parapet terminating in cast concrete coping. Although modest in design, these buildings form part of a small handful of remaining structures that illustrate the historic commercial component of the Brickell Village/West Brickell areas (a community historically known as the Southside neighborhood for its location south of the Miami River), and a predominantly residential area with pockets of commercial activity. These buildings also serve to illustrate the proliferation of commercial structures built in what were highly desirable areas along the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) tracks and supported the freight and passenger industries. The tenants of these buildings have included food manufacturing and distribution, roofing contractors, etc. After 1928, filling stations and automobile- related businesses would service the Tamiami Trail—a major arterial road leading from Miami and terminating in Tampa. A Brief History The Brickell neighborhoods bear the name of their founders, William and Mary Brickell. As Miami pioneers, the Brickell family settled on the south bank of the Miami River in 1871, built their home, and opened a trading post and post office. The Brickell family is reported to have owned an uninterrupted area of land as far south as Coconut Grove and as far west as Little Havana. Before Mr. Henry Morrison Flagler, the president and owner of the FEC Railroad Company, expanded the FEC Railroad into Miami, the main access into Miami was by boat. In order to entice Flagler to expand his railway Julia Tuttle (dubbed the mother of Miami), and the Brickell family offered him land to connect Miami with West Palm Beach. It was not until after the region experienced a freeze during the winter of 1895, with Miami escaping the damage to the principally citrus crops, that Flagler finally accepted their offer. Mrs. Tuttle gave property on the north bank of the Miami River, while the Brickell family matched her offer and contributed land on the south side. The first train arrived on April 15, 1896 and soon thereafter, on July 28, 1896, the City of Miami was incorporated. The Royal Poinciana Hotel, developed by Flagler on Tuttle's donated land, was directly across the river from the Brickell estate on the northern bank of the river. The hotel was the epicenter of Miami’s social and business life until its destruction after the hurricane of 1926. Two Sides of the River In 1903 the Miami Avenue Bridge, a manually operated swing bridge, was built providing a link between the north and south banks. The construction of the bridge promoted rapid growth in downtown Miami, with the expansion and development progressing on both sides of the Miami River. Today’s Miami Avenue, originally Avenue D, was the City’s first commercial artery running north 5 Commercial Building Complex 83 SW 8TH Street/729 SW 1ST Avenue Designation Report to south. Intersecting with Avenue D was 12th Street (now Flagler Street) which was also a major thoroughfare where an overwhelming majority of businesses were located, creating the Central Business District. The FEC train tracks ran along Avenue E (NW/SW 1st Avenue) from the station in Downtown Miami five miles south to the nearest station in the neighboring town of Coconut Grove. The Miami train station—always located on the north side of the river—was moved a few times until a permanent facility was built at 200 NW 1st Avenue in 1912. Avenue E (NW/SW 1st Avenue) consisted primarily of utilitarian structures built to serve the railroad. A freight station was built on the northern bank of the Miami River on 3rd Street and Avenue E (NW/SW 1st Avenue) and many facilities grew around it to sell goods to the ever-growing city. For years, William Brickell refused to set foot on the north bank, as he felt that too much of Flagler’s energy and finances were spent developing the northern side. After William Brickell’s death in 1908, Mary Brickell became one of the most prominent real estate developers in the city. In 1911, she constructed Brickell Avenue and developed the land alongside Biscayne Bay into an exclusive development called Millionaire’s Row. This development included large bayfront lots south of 15th Road, each sold with the stipulation that no house could be constructed for less than $2500.00. That same year, according to historian Arva Moore Parks, Mary Brickell platted the Southside neighborhood. In 1912, she sold 130 acres to James Deering who would build Villa Vizcaya (a national historic landmark and locally designated resource) located just south of downtown. In 1921, Mrs. Brickell sold 160 acres, directly adjacent to Brickell Avenue, to C.J. Holleman for the platting of the Holleman Park subdivision at $3,000 per acre. In 1922, Mary Brickell platted land for “The Roads” neighborhood (to the west of the Brickell neighborhoods). The area located in the southwest quadrant of the city, south of the Miami river, west of Miami Avenue, and east of the FEC Railroad line (directly adjacent to First Avenue) became known as Southside. The neighborhood was, by some accounts, an upper to middle class enclave that grew from the teens though the thirties with a distinctly Southern charm. The residential component of Southside was mainly comprised of wood frame bungalows and vernacular houses as well as concrete block stucco apartments, nestled within a thick tree canopy with unfenced yards and corner stores. Brickell Avenue was an upper class development that mostly contained substantial residences until the 1950s when the zoning was changed from residential to commercial. This began the destruction of homes along Brickell Avenue and the development of the existing “financial district.” The Buildings at 83-93 SW 8th Street Commercial activity took advantage of the prime location on the River, alongside the FEC railway (SW 1st Avenue, formerly Avenue E), and on major commercial arterials. Early maps and directories depict a growth of commercial activity along the river and as far south as to 20th street (modern-day 8th Street) 6 Commercial Building Complex 83 SW 8TH Street/729 SW 1ST Avenue Designation Report between Avenues D and E. 1925 Sanborn maps depict the majority of the lots being developed and commercial activity growing along the newly-constructed Tamiami Trail, completed in 1928. Tax photographs show the 8th Street of the 1920s and 30s populated by masonry vernacular businesses with similar uses, and a number of auto mechanics, who catered to the cars that traveled the Tamiami Trail. 93 SW 8th Street 87 SW 8th Street 83 SW 8th Street Figure 1: 1925 Hopkins Map depicting 83-93 SW 8th ST The structures at 83-93 SW 8th Street were built during the real estate boom era of the 1920s and have hosted a variety of tenants. The construction date is estimated around 1924. Worthy of note is the placement of the properties on lots 13, 14, and 15. Originally, these were platted to face the FEC railway line, but when they were constructed their owners decided to have them face SW 8th Street (already referred to as Tamiami Trail by 1925, a few years before its completion in 1928). The building at 83 SW 8th Street, a concrete block structure, was built by one of Miami’s original residents, George Hodgkiss, as the storefront and shop for the Keystone Roofing Company. Tax photos show this building was occupied by St. John’s Electric Co. in the 1930s. 87 SW 8th Street was occupied by the Danish Creamery Corporation from 1926 to the 1930s. In the 1930s, the building was occupied by the Chas A. Merrit Oil Burners Company. The corner building, 93 SW 8th Street, housed the Trail Transfer Company. Around 1938, the corner of the lot containing the 93 SW 8th Street building (now Napoleon’s Restaurant) was cut at a diagonal, creating a service plaza that was equipped with gas pumps.