Flori-Coral Apartments
National Register of Historic Places and Federal Tax Credit
Little Havana, Miami, Florida
The Flori-Coral Apartments is a 71-unit, three-story, masonry, Mediterranean Revival Style courtyard apartment building constructed in 1926. The building typifies the American courtyard apartment model with a central hall on a grand scale. Though the property exemplifies the ornamentation and detail common to the Mediterranean Revival style prevalent in Miami during the 1920s, there are notable character-defining features which elevate the property to an exemplary status.
The Little Havana neighborhood is characterized by a diverse mix of single-story bungalows, commercial buildings, and infill residential development; however, multi-family apartment buildings represent the predominant building type. The earliest of these apartment buildings were constructed during the 1920s and 1930s and reflect the Central Hall architectural typology.
The Flori-Coral Apartments occupy a double lot located at the center of the south side of SW 6th Street between SW 12th and SW 13th Avenues, within the Lawrence Estates subdivision in the East Little Havana neighborhood. The property is situated near the area’s primary commercial corridor, Calle Ocho (SW 8th Street). The Flori-Coral Apartments are significant under Criterion C: Architecture, for their Mediterranean Revival design and as a representative example of a 1920s courtyard apartment building. This building type was instrumental in shaping development patterns throughout Greater Miami during the land boom era and reflects the early growth of the community historically known as Riverside, later Little Havana. The property is significant at the local level, with a period of significance dating to 1926, the year of its construction.
During this period, the rapidly developing Riverside neighborhood mirrored the broader growth of Miami. A newspaper article published in late 1925 reported that “Building permits for the City of Miami yesterday climbed to $351,000, the highest mark so far this month… Two permits to the Wolpert Realty & Improvement Company headed the list with a total of $250,000 and represented apartment house construction.” The article further noted, “These buildings will be erected at 1250 and 1260 S.W. Sixth Street, and each will cost $125,000. They are to contain 42 apartments each and will be three stories high. The lots are 41 by 143 feet.” The Flori-Coral Apartments were constructed during a pivotal phase of Miami’s 1920s land boom, reflecting the westward expansion of residential development into the Riverside neighborhood and the increasing demand for multi-family housing during this period.