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LINCOLN ROAD MALL ADDED TO THE NATIONAL REGISTER
Lincoln Road is arguably one of America’s most unique urban areas. Its combination of space-age design, setting, and high-end stores and cafes, make it the place to see and be seen in South Beach. It’s past is that of a boulevard that saw radical swings in popularity and retail patronage since its construction in 1914. Today’s Lincoln Road Pedestrian Mall tells the story of an urban design concept that saved the commercial main street – a story DOCOMOMO US/FLORIDA believes is worth preserving.
Completed in December of 1960, only seven blocks of the original concept were configured to Lapidus’s fantastic vision—a modernistic pedestrian mall with thin-shell concrete shelters, fountains, pools, tropical landscaping, and its signature black-and-white striped pavement. Lincoln Road pedestrian mall was at the forefront in urban design and it remains the second-oldest and most intact pedestrian mall in the United States. (A slightly older iteration in Kalamazoo, Michigan has been substantially altered and abbreviated since its 1959 inception.) A 1990s redevelopment, done in consultation with Lapidus, brought new vitality to the district, while respecting the original concept and design.
The board of directors of DOCOMOMO US/FLORIDA wanted to celebrate and honor the Lincoln Road Mall on its 50th birthday. It also wanted to do something consistent with its mission of documenting and conserving the Modern movement. With an immediate need for someone or some entity to prepare the Lincoln Road’s nomination to the National Register, DOCOMOMO US/FLORIDA’s board and members stepped in to fill the void. The DOCOMOMO team, led by preservation planner Laura Lavernia; landscape architect Patricia Watkins; Sean McCaughan; and Richard Shieldhouse, completed Lincoln Road’s nomination proposal in late 2010.
DOCOMOMO’s nomination proposal was approved by the State of Florida’s National Register Review Board. It was listed on the National Register on May 16, 2011.
