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| Freedom Tower, Miami |
Symbol of New Life for Cubans
For planeloads of Cubans in the 1960s it became a symbol of a new life in the United States. Almost half a million refugees from Cuba passed through Miami's equivalent of New York's Ellis Island.
On National Register of Historic Places
Now it is on the National Register of Historic Places and is used for occasional exhibitions mounted by Miami-Dade College.
Mediterranean Revival Style Architecture
Freedom Tower was built in the Mediterranean Revival style of architecture, modelled on the Giralda tower of the cathedral of Seville in Spain, which was a former Moorish minaret converted to a bell tower. A small dome, or cupola, at the top of the 78 m (255 foot) tower used to house a decorative beacon.
Another building in Miami-Dade with a similar tower is the Biltmore Hotel, in Coral Gables.
Building Originally Newspaper Offices
Freedom Tower was constructed in 1925 as the offices and printshop of the Miami News, then Miami's main newspaper, but the newspaper, now defunct, moved to new premises in 1957.
Centre to Process Cuban Immigrants
The federal government used the building to process Cuban refugees until the early 1970s. Immigrants were interviewed, given health checks, and charities provided them with clothes.
Museum and Cuban Exile Offices
A prominent member of Miami's American-Cuban community, the fiercely anti-Castro Jorge Mas Canosa, bought the building in 1997 for more than $4 million and restored it.
He was a leader of the Cuban American National Foundation, and Freedom Tower became a monument for Cuban exiles. It contained a museum, library, meeting hall and the offices of his organization.
Development Opposed by Preservationists
A development company, Terra Group, bought Freedom Tower in 2004, aiming to construct a new building on part of the site.
Preservationists opposed the plan, and even though planning permission was eventually granted for construction at the back of the building, provided the tower was left intact, the company donated the property to Miami-Dade College the following year.
Dalí and Goya Exhibitions
Miami-Dade College restored the New World Mural on the mezzanine level, and occasional exhibitions are now held in Freedom Tower, for example:
- Dalí's Divine Comedy works
- Goya etchings
- Instruments of torture
- Madeleine Albright's pins and brooches
New Cuban-American Museum Proposed
Proposals have been made for a new Cuban-American Museum at Freedom Tower, with an interactive database of immigrants like the one at New York's Ellis Island.
Bus from South Beach to Freedom Tower
Buses from South Beach to Freedom Tower, which is close to Bayside Marketplace, take about 30 to 45 minutes, ($2 flat fare, exact money only). Drivers sometimes call out the stop for one place or the other.
Directions to Freedom Tower in Google Transit
To get bus schedules or driving directions to Freedom Tower, click on the Google Transit link in the right-hand sidebar of this blog.
If you need help using Google Transit read the following post: Directions in Miami - Walking, Driving, Bike, Buses & Trains.
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