Miami Marine Stadium update

image via sphereboy's Flickr feed
Last week the Miami Herald's Andres Viglucci reported that the "cost of repairing the historic but deteriorated Miami Marine Stadium could be substantially lower than previous estimates, according to a new engineering study."

image via sphereboy's Flickr feed
The structure, which was completed in 1964, has sat idle since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Many old time Miamians attended concerts, speedboat races and religious services at the stadium before it was closed.


Last year Viglucci reported that the stadium made the New York-based "World Monuments Fund's list of endangered places for 2010 -- along with Macchu Picchu and the gingerbread houses of Port-au-Prince."

The Fund thinks the stadium is worth preserving because, "it defined a significant shift in American architectural style from staid civic buildings to exuberant structures reflecting changing tastes and a desire to project the city as a forward-looking place."


"The 7,000-seat stadium was also given historic status last year by the Dade Heritage Trust," and its restoration is a chief priority for Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado's administration according to the Herald.


The stadium, designed by Spillis Candela DMJM, is often cited as an example of a style of architecture that saw buildings constructed with "exposed raw concrete, great blocks of it, precast or molded into severe geometries or swooping," Viglucci wrote in the Herald in 2007.

Anyway, all of this gives me a chance to post some black and white pictures I shot back in the mid-80's (exact date unknown) of a Tony Bennett concert.


Also posted here are some great shots that show the stadium in 2002 from Robert's (aka sphereboy) Flickr feed.