In the late 1970's, Miami's Downtown Development Authority sponsored a public art project - It was known as the "Miami Urban Walls". Under the leadership of Roy Kenzie, the Director of the DDA, several blank walls in Miami's central core and Omni area, became canvasses for several artists. I recently acquired a set of postcards that show these Urban Walls.

Sadly, only two of the Art walls remain, and one will be lost soon.

I wanted to share these with all the forumer, many of whom are too young to remember these.

Roy Kenzie was very instrumental in the development of a vibrant Downtown during his tenure as head of the DDA. Unfortunately, his vision and dedication was cut short due to his untimely death. He would have loved to have seen Downtown Miami today.

There is a plaque dedicated to him on the Brickell Avenue Bridge. If you ever walk across the west side of the bridge, you will see it.

Enjoy the next few images of Miami Urban Walls..............

This is one in the series of eight large-scale wall paintings. Original design by Puerto Rican Artist, Rafael Rivera-Garcia. This mural was located in front of The Miami Herald.

This mural was destroyed in the mid 1980's. Note the Miami Skyline with the famous Coopertone Neon Billboard sign in the distance.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/e6df3c5e.jpg

HEY magic I do remember that :)

This untitiled mural was uniquely positioned on Biscayne Blvd and 10th Street. (Now Ten Museum is being built on this site). Orginal design by Paul Taub. This old Art-Deco Building used to be headquarters for the Royal Castle Hamburger Chain based in Miami. This building also featured large animated billboards in the 1950'-1970's.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/Urbanwall1royalcastlebldg.jpg

This mural was located the the entrance ramp to I-95 off of South Miami Avenue. Original design by Sabastian Trabato. Painted over in the 1980's.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/Urbanwall7i95ramp.jpg

This mural was located on 1st Street and North Miami Avenue near the Richard's Dept Store. Original design by Malcolm Cohen. Mural painted over in the 1980's. New mural by LEBO is now on this wall.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/Urbanwall2richards.jpg

This mural was located on the side of the Dade County Bar Association, across from the Dade County Courthouse. Original design by Thomas Minor. This was painted over after Hurricane Andrew.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/Urbanwall8courthouse.jpg

This mural was located across the street from the Dade County School Board. Original design by Sal Guastella. Follow each of the letters to spell out 'The Flavor of Miami": Cuban Coffee, Chocolate Cake from "Butterflakes", tropical fruits and Whopper and Fries". This mural was painted over in the early 1990's.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/Urbanwall6flavor.jpg

This mural still exists on the old bank building on 1550 Biscayne Blvd. Original design by Colombian artist, David Manzur. This mural's days are numbered, as this site was recently sold and will be developed soon as The Chelsea. Drive by and take a look before it's gone.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/7266ddd1.jpg

wow, great finds!

Those were the days! Drugs, crime, and art.

A little too much drugs and crime I recall :)

This mural and Miami Icon still remains! Original design by David Copeland. It was restored a few years back and its copyright acquired by Downtown land owner, Natan Rok. I believe that this image is used as the logo for Rok Enterprises. In the 1980's, the Downtown People Mover was built very closely to this mural, taking away some of its impact. But at least it is still there as a reminder of these urban walls that adorned our city. Follow the dots from positive to negative...pretty cool, huh?

Today we have some new murals including the one located on the old Burdines, NOW Macy's building painted by the famous muralist, Wyland.
This one was a gift from Burdines to the City of Miami for its 100th Anniversary in 1996. Anybody have any good images of this one? Please post here.

I hope you enjoyed these images!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/e4a26d3a.jpg

Riding by that mural on the Metromover is awesome. I remember seeing that building several times on Miami Vice.

and what about that big mural with the whales?

and what about that big mural with the whales?


That's the Wyland mural on the side of Macy's. Got a picture of it?

What about the picture on the side of the bacardi building

What about the picture on the side of the bacardi building

That's been on the building since its completion in 1963. It's part of its MiMo design.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/bacardi1x.jpg


Bacardi's Miami site, on the 102' x 183' tract at the northwest corner of Biscayne Boulevard and 21st street, is home to two amazing and all-original structures: an 8-story tower and a smaller square building in the plaza.

The tower dates from 1963, housing the Bacardi Museum, about 2600 square feet of office space, and a top floor dining room with panoramic views. The architect was Enrique Gutierrez of Sacmag International in Puerto Rico, and the builder was Frank J. Rooney, Inc. of Miami. The staff is proud that the interior retains original design elements specified by designers Adella P. Estrada and Alberto Fernando Pla. The black leather Barcelona chairs chosen by Estrada in 1973 are still in place, as is the reception area wall tapestry designed by Pla. Original custom rugs were woven in Puerto Rico by V'Soske of New York.

The tower is built of reinforced concrete, overlayed with two huge 'azulejos', or ceramic tile murals done in the traditional Spanish colors of blue and white, by Francisco Brennand of Recife, Brazil. Born July 11, 1927, Brennand is an accomplished painter-ceramicist, whose other works include murals at the School of Itanhaem at Sao Paulo, a 32-meter mural of the Battle of Guararapes for the Banco da Lavoura de Minas Gerais, and the interior of a ballroom for the Sao Domingos Hotel in Recife. The Bacardi tower murals are made of 28,000 hand-painted, glazed, baked, 6" x 6" tiles surrounded by a marble border. Brennand felt strongly that painters and architects should work together to give buildings an artistic unity. In fact, Brennand stresses the word "overlay" rather than "decorate", to underscore his belief in the combined unity of the final work.

In addition to the murals, other tower surfaces include white-veined marble tiles and exposed concrete showing the effects of 1" x 4" tongue-and-groove planks used for the form to give a vertical striped effect. The east and west facades are made of thermopane, smoke-tinted glass with anodized aluminum mullions. Interestingly, the underground garage was built to the specifications of a swimming pool to keep the subterranean area dry despite the high water table in Miami's porous coral soil. This area holds 65 automobiles and is covered by an outdoor plaza. Imagine a swimming pool which keeps the water out, rather than in!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/bacardimiami2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/bacardimiami4.jpg

In 1973, Bacardi added the fascinating square building in the plaza. The square building, raised 47 feet off the ground around a central core, features four massive walls, comprised of chunks of 1" thick hammered glass mural tapestries, designed to withstand hurricane force winds.

Light bounces from the colorful surfaces by day, and by night they emit multi-colored streams of light from the backlighted interior.

These glass tapestries were designed and manufactured in France by S.E.A.R. under the direction of Gabriel and Jacques Loire of Chartres, after an original painting by German artist Johannes M. Dietz. The architect of the building was Ignacio Carrera-Justiz of Coral Gables, FL. Abstract modern style on all four sides, this unusual building has two floors which cantilever out 24 feet on each side of the central core. Each floor is hung from the roof by 28 tensor rods, supported at the center by the concrete-reinforced central core. The load on each tensor is transferred to the roof in which a crisscross system of post tension beams carry the load from the tensor rods through the central core, plaza and garage, to the foundation. The two floors of this building serve as finance and accounting offices. The meticulously manicured landscaping covers the whole width of a city block, creating a postcard view from any angle.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/bacardimiami3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/bacardi5.jpg


SOURCE: http://www.jetsetmodern.com/bacardi.htm

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/wylandmuralist.jpg

World-Renowned Marine Life Artist Wyland Paints Seven-Story-Tall Mural. Whaling Wall # 78

Miami, FL (May 29, 1998) -- In celebration of its 100h Anniversary and the International Year of The Ocean, Burdines / The Florida Store contracted premier marine life artist, Wyland, to create a seven-story-tall mural depicting Florida's marine life on the entire Southeast First Street wall of the company's downtown Miami location. Wyland commenced his painting on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22 at 9 a.m. and continued daily through Saturday , May 2 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding Sunday, April 26. The public was invited to watch Wyland as he created his 250 foot-wide mural in the heart of the city.

Wyland has been a pioneer in the marine art movement since 1971. It has been said that Wyland's depiction of whales and other marine mammals captures the true spirit of he animals and even offers a look into their souls. "I try not only to paint the great marine life, but also the great spirit they possess," says Wyland.

On Monday, May 4, Wyland dedicated the wall as a remembrance to his dear friend and avid supporter of he protection of ocean life, Lloyd Bridges.

The Wyland Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promote and protect precious ocean resources through life-size public art, education and awareness.

To date with this wall at Burdines, Wyland has completed 78 Whaling Walls throughout the U.S., Japan, Australia, Mexico and France on his quest to complete 100 walls by the year 2011. USA Today has dubbed him, "a marine Michelangelo." His walls are seen by more than seven million people daily.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/wyland78.jpg


SOURCE: www.wylandfoundation.org

Found a Picture of Wyland's Mural in New Orleans...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/Viola22/PIC_0166.jpg

how recent is that picture? post katrina? the mural couldnt have done that well...

No Clue, Came across it on SSP...

If you go to Wyland's site, there are pictures and dates of all his murals...

Marvelous, irreplaceable urban art. My mother in law worked at the Bacardi building
during the '60s.

^^^^ Brother, you are not supposed to post in old threads.