Black Miami architecture is not unique, in that one can find many examples of scattered-site housing, shotgun-style homes, and low-rise multi-family housing developments across America. However, what is unique to Miami is the littoral urbanism found in the Deep South that requires a significant commitment to the sustainability of local ecologies. The initial housing stock of black migrant labor was composed of single-family shotgun homes and cracker vernacular-type bungalows. Densely organized in the Central Negro District of Miami and Coconut Grove respectively, these historically black architectural typologies revealed many inherent innovations seen in site-specific design. Raised floors and porches, central corridors, and passive cooling are all components of historic black Miami architecture that contemporary Miami has rebranded as climate resiliency and environmentally-friendly design. Unfortunately, today many of the historic architecture remnants are no longer present, and what is left is government-sanctioned housing developments, which reduces the impact and influence of blacks on the build environment.1

Allapattah Neighborhood. Photo credit floridabaptisthistory.org/2017/08/14/miami-allapattah/.

Allapattah Neighborhood, 2019.

Photos Clockwise L to R.

Hampton House, Brownsville. Photo credit Brownsvillemiami.com/history.

Lincoln Memorial Park, Brownsville. Photo credit Brownsvillemiami.com/history.

Interior Residence, Brownsville. Photo credit Brownsvillemiami.com/history.

Ann’s Cleaners & Laundry, Brownsville. Photo credit Brownsvillemiami.com/history.

Liberty Square, 1937. Image courtesy of HistoryMiami.

Liberty Square, 2019.

Miami Gardens, 2019.

West Coconut Grove, 2019.

West Coconut Grove, 2019.

Opa-locka, FL, 1959. Image courtesy of HistoryMiami.

Opa-locka, FL, 2019.

Overtown, Miami, FL. Image courtesy of HistoryMiami.

Overtown, Miami, FL, 2019.

Little Haiti, Miami, FL, 1983. Image courtesy of HistoryMiami.

Edison Courts Little Haiti, Miami, FL, 1947. Image courtesy of HistoryMiami.