BUILDING LATIN-STYLE

   Miami can boast that many of its outstanding buildings were designed by Latin American architects.  Hilario Candela, Jorge Arango, and Enrique Gutierrez  (he created Biscayne Boulevard's Bacardi Building, below, in 1963) are part of a    
long tradition that led us to New York City last week.

   The Museum of Modern Art opened their new show, "Latin American Architecture, 1955-1980.  
       Proposed hotel for Peru's Machu Picchu, Miguel Rodrigo Mazure, 1969

       We attended as my wife's uncle, "Tio Tomas", was one of the architects honored.    Tomas Jose Sanabria practiced his craft in Caracas for many years before he died in 2008.  Francesca's "tio" was a warm and creative artist who enjoyed his occasional visits to Coconut Grove.

This was some of his work displayed at MoMA.  

Drawing of the funicular station taking passengers up to Tio Tomas' mountaintop hotel, along with photographs, and sketches.

    One of his best known designs was the Humboldt Hotel.  It has been sitting atop La Avila, the mountain looming over Caracas, for sixty years.

 



  The exhibit was filled with drawings, models, and photographs of a dozen Latin American architects. The show's co-organizer, Barry Bergdohl,  called their work "one of the great powerhouses of 20th century architectural design".  
    
 My wife's family was there in great numbers,
many making the long trek from Venezuela.

   After the reunion we wandered downstairs to see paintings we has only previously viewed in books.

The first one I encountered was  "Glenn", by the Haitian -American artist, Jean Michael Basquiat.

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There was so much to see in El Apple Grande. Wandering around I photographed some of the city's signs.

  On the subway ride back to our hotel I was considering pole dancing. 
I thought better of it when I saw this,

 Oh well.
                              _______________

           The Grove Guy in NYC- To Be Continued