Oliver+Meade

Oliver Meade Bibiography

Oliver Meade was born in 1885 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father John, owned multiple steel factories and his mother, Beth stayed home to care Oliver and his older brother Henry. As a boy, Oliver travelled with his family to the Chicago World's Fair and became fascinated with the massive and beautiful buildings at the fair. As he reached his teenage years, Oliver knew that he wanted to pursue a career in architecture. He left home in 1902 to study at Columbia University. After graduating in 1906, he stayed in New York City and became and apprentice at a small architecture firm and there received formal architecture training and experience. After about a year and a half he was hired as a draftsman at the architecture firm of [|McKim, Mead, and White]. In 1910 he met Catherine Smith, the daughter of a wealthy New York merchant, at a dinner party of a client. The two fell in love and were married two years later.

After working at the firm of McKim, Mead, and White for about 5 years in 1913, Meade established his own architecture firm in New York. However after a few years he became tired of living in New York City for so long. Oliver had heard of many people moving south to Florida where there was a lot of development occurring, including a new land development called Miami Beach that was built in 1913 right off the coast of Miami. Oliver knew that there would be a lot of work opportunity for him down in there, so in 1918, he, his wife, and his son Jack, now 5 years old, and daughter Alice, age 2, moved to Miami just before the [|boom of the 1920s]. During this time there was increase in the demand for land and many new housing developments were built. Also as tourism to Miami increased many new hotels were built to accommodate the many people who visited Miami each year. Meade established his own architecture firm and soon work was pouring in.

The Great Miami Hurricane, a category 4 hit Miami in 1926 destroying most of the buildings in Miami and Miami Beach. The eye passed directly over Miami and Miami Beach and residents had little warning, only a few hours. 373 people died, most of whom ventured out of their home during the eye believing the storm was over, and over 800 were reported missing. Between 25,000 and 50,000 people were left homeless after the storm. This both ended the land boom and brought on the Great Depression in South Florida. Because of the widespread destruction on Miami Beach, [|John J Farrey] was appointed Chief Building, Plumbing, and Electrical Inspector of Miami Beach and created the first building code of the United States. More than 5,000 US cities have duplicated his building codes since then.

During the Depression many people in Miami became unemployed, almost 16,000, and a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was opened there. Luckily for Oliver he was not greatly affected for there were still a lot of repairs on buildings that needed to be done since the hurricane and many new buildings needed to be built. On February 15, 1933 Oliver went to watch President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt give a speech at [|Bayfront Park]. On this day Oliver witnessed the attempted assassination of President Roosevelt by [|Giuseppe Zangara] ([|FBI file on Zangara's attempted assassination] ).

During the 1930s the [|Art Deco] style of architecture came to Miami.

[|Song--The Storm that Struck Miami] (if the song doesn't play on Alexander Street it is in the youtube video below) media type="youtube" key="yI9vuneJ3UY" height="265" width="320" There was another song about the Miami Hurricane that I found, but i was unable to find a place to listen to it for free but found the lyrics.

1920- County Causeway (connecting Miami and Miami Beach), Terminal Island, Star Island, and Miami Beach

1920- Aerial View of Downtown Miami

Damage to Miami Beach After the 1926 Hurricane 

Oliver Meade Bibliography