Miami Modernist Architecture or better known as MiMo, is a style of architecture from the 1950s and 1960s that originated in Miami, Florida as a resort vernacular unique to Miami and Miami Beach. It was a popular response to the various modernist and post world war architectural movements that were taking place in other parts of the world, adding glamour, fun, and material excess to otherwise stark, minimalist, and efficient styles. Miami Modernism was heavily concentrated in Middle and Upper Miami Beach along Collins Avenue, as well as, along the Biscayne Boulevard corridor starting from around Midtown, through the Design District and into the Upper Eastside.
Today, the area along Biscayne Boulevard is the designated MiMo Biscayne Boulevard Historic District or also known as "MiMo on BiBo", for "Miami Modern on Biscayne Boulevard". MiMo Historic District runs roughly from 50th Street to 77th Street along Biscayne Boulevard, although MiMo can be found heavily in the Design District and Midtown. Many annual festivals are held to promote MiMo architecture, such as "Cinco de MiMo" a play on "Cinco de Mayo" in early May.
The umbrella term "Miami Modernism", or "MiMo" for short has only recently been coined to recognize this particular style native to Miami. The term was coined by Miami Beach resident Randall C. Robinson and interior designer Teri D'Amico. Prime examples of "MiMO" architecture include the Fontainebleau Hotel, Eden Roc, Seacoast Towers, Deauville, and Di Lido hotels by famed architect Morris Lapidus and Norman Giller's Carillon Hotel which was voted Miami Beach's "Hotel of the Year" in 1959, and the original Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida.
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