Lawrence Murray Dixon (1901-1949), a native Floridian, began his architectural career in New York with Schultze and Weaver, known for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Unlike many architects of his time, Dixon lacked a formal architectural education and grand tour experience. Nevertheless, he became the most prolific architect in Miami Beach during the late 1930s and early 1940s, designing a wide range of commercial and residential buildings, including lavish oceanfront hotels. Notably, he was among the first to construct large-scale hotels in the Art Deco style, infusing the jazz age's optimism into his designs. Dixon and his contemporaries uniquely adapted Art Deco to meet local demands for affordable resort architecture, incorporating local motifs and historical influences. This adaptation contributed to the distinctive architecture of South Beach, now a restored international vacation hotspot and the first twentieth-century architectural district on the National Register of Historic Places. Dixon's extensive archive, housed at Miami Beach's Bass Museum of Art, includes original drawings and duotone photographs by Gottscho & Schleisner, forming the foundation of this book. Authors Allan Shulman and Jean François Lejeune explore not only Miami Beach's Art Deco but also influences from World's Fairs and skylines of cities like Tel Aviv, Rio de Janeiro, and Casablanca, making this work a comprehensive history of Art Deco architecture
Jean François Lejeune Bücher
