SECURITY BUILDING

Security Building

The Security Building is a historic site in Miami, Florida. It is located at 117 Northeast 1st Avenue. On January 4, 1989, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The building has 16 floors with a height of 69 m and was built from 1926 to 1927.

It faces west onto NE 1st Avenue and is situated in the middle of the block, with buildings on both sides.

With only 15-meter frontage, the architect made a grand statement by creating an almost temple-like base, consisting of the first three stories. Engaged pilasters, which also frame the center bay, articulate the corners, creating three distinct bays. 

The fourth floor begins the transition to the high-rise portion of the building. Stone panels with a similar relief accent the corners and separate the bays. Above the windows of the fourth floor is another projecting element, a stringcourse that is ornamented with a guilloche pattern in relief.Floors five through 13 continue the three bays with window arrangements that are grouped in pairs on each of the end bays, and are grouped in three in the center bay, emphasizing the importance of the center bay to the entire composition. The windows are a metal casement type.The 14th and 15th floors function as the base for the great mansard roof, which terminates the building. To balance the composition, the two floors are treated as if they were one by using a round arch on the 15th floor that is carried by the pilasters on the 14th floor, creating a visual connection between the two floors.

A bracketed cornice separates the building from the roof form that is so decidedly different from roof treatments in Miami during this period. A mansard roof is a double-pitched roof with a steep upper slope. The mansard roof of the Security Building is clad in copper and terminates in a series of antefixae. A series of arches containing windows and serving as dormers penetrate the roof. Bull’s-eye windows are placed between the arched windows. An eight-sided cupola that extends from the center of the roof is fenestrated on each side with a multi-paned arched window. The dome of the cupola is also clad in copper.