Qualla: The Bacardi Buildings: Miami's Modernist Jewel Box https://qualla.com/bacardi-buildings-miami en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/h/w/f/bacardi-buildings-miami-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The Bacardi Buildings: Miami's Modernist Jewel Box https://qualla.com/bacardi-buildings-miami The Bacardi Buildings: Miami's Modernist Jewel Box: Introduction https://qualla.com/bacardi-buildings-miami/ Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Averette assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 3.0. From a plane descending into Miami International Airport, you can spot a massive Bacardi bat logo painted on a plaza along Biscayne Boulevard. That logo sits atop an underground parking garage connecting two of Miami's most striking buildings - a 1963 tower covered in vivid blue azulejo murals and a 1973 annex wrapped entirely in hammered-glass mosaics so colorful it earned the nickname "The Jewel Box." Together, the Bacardi Buildings are a declaration: when the Bacardi family fled Castro's Cuba, they brought their taste for bold, unapologetic architecture with them.

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Image: No machine-readable author provided. Averette assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY 3.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/h/w/f/bacardi-buildings-miami-wp/dhwf-the-bacardi-buildings-miamis-modernist-jewel-box-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Bacardi Buildings: Miami's Modernist Jewel Box: The Blue Tile Tower https://qualla.com/bacardi-buildings-miami/ Photo credit Phillip Pessar from Miami, USA, CC BY 2.0. The Bacardi Imports Tower rose at 2100 Biscayne Boulevard in 1963, commissioned by former Bacardi president Jose "Pepin" Bosch and designed by Cuban architect Enrique Gutierrez. Two of the building's exterior walls are covered in azulejo murals - the traditional painted tile work...

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Image: Phillip Pessar from Miami, USA | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/h/w/f/bacardi-buildings-miami-wp/dhwf-the-bacardi-buildings-miamis-modernist-jewel-box-the-blue-tile-tower.mp3 0:06 2 full The Bacardi Buildings: Miami's Modernist Jewel Box: The Jewel Box https://qualla.com/bacardi-buildings-miami/ Photo credit Daniel Christensen, CC BY-SA 3.0. Ten years after the tower, Bacardi added an administration annex designed by Ignacio Carrera-Justiz of Coral Gables. Where Gutierrez had chosen painted tile, Carrera-Justiz wrapped all four sides of his building in a colorful hammered-glass mosaic designed by German artist Johann...

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Image: Daniel Christensen | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/h/w/f/bacardi-buildings-miami-wp/dhwf-the-bacardi-buildings-miamis-modernist-jewel-box-the-jewel-box.mp3 0:06 3 full The Bacardi Buildings: Miami's Modernist Jewel Box: Exile Architecture https://qualla.com/bacardi-buildings-miami/ Photo credit Jonathunder, Public domain. The Bacardi Buildings are inseparable from the story of Cuban exile in Miami. When Fidel Castro nationalized Bacardi's Cuban operations, the company relocated its U.S. headquarters to Midtown Miami. The buildings that Bosch commissioned were not defensive or modest - they were a ...

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Image: Jonathunder | Public domain

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/h/w/f/bacardi-buildings-miami-wp/dhwf-the-bacardi-buildings-miamis-modernist-jewel-box-exile-architecture.mp3 0:06 4 full The Bacardi Buildings: Miami's Modernist Jewel Box: Preservation and New Life https://qualla.com/bacardi-buildings-miami/ Photo credit PhillipPessar, CC BY-SA 4.0. By 2009, as Miami's development boom threatened older structures, citizens launched a campaign to protect the Bacardi Buildings. On April 18, 2012, the American Institute of Architects' Florida chapter placed them on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places. In 201...

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Image: PhillipPessar | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/h/w/f/bacardi-buildings-miami-wp/dhwf-the-bacardi-buildings-miamis-modernist-jewel-box-preservation-and-new-life.mp3 0:06 5 full