The Creek South Beach is a 90 room motel located on Collins Avenue and 23rd Street Miami Beach, Florida. A classic and noteworthy example of Miami Modern Architecture (MiMo) situated just north of The Art Deco District, in the Collins Park Neighborhood and the CANDO (Cultural Arts Neighborhood District Overlay) in Miami Beach.
The Creek South Beach, is one of the few remaining examples of Post World War II motel architecture in Miami and the only example in Miami Beach’s famous South Beach neighborhood. The property has been prominently featured as an architecturally significant structure in the definitive book on MiMo architecture MiMo: Miami Modern Revealed[1].
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The Creek South Beach (originally named The Ankara Motel) was built in 1954 by the architecture firm of Reiff & Feldman. Designed in a classic motel or googie style “L” shape, “the central element is a radically cantilevered raked delta-wing roof, perched lightly as a paper airplane atop a triangular glass lobby.”[2] The lobby design sets the tone for architectural elements throughout – zigzagged lines, floating staircases encased in brick and a central pylon overlooking the waterway.
The popularity of the property rose and fell with Miami Beach’s economic tides changing hands and names many times over. By the turn of the new millennium the motel was operated as a youth hostel under the name of Banana Bungalow and suffered from severe neglect and poor maintenance.
In 2003 the property was purchased by Ken Fields, who re-named it The Creek South Beach and turned the motel into the first Art Hotel on Miami Beach. Young artists from across the country were invited to design individual rooms, re-christened The Creek: Signature Series. The project managers for the Signature Series were Bo Sundius of Bunch Design and Tim Ronan of SBK Global, with curatorial input from artist Ellen Jong. The hotel re-opened in time for Art Basel Miami Beach 2002, hosting guests such as Jeffrey Deitch of Deitch Projects[3]. The Creek South Beach won Best Hotel in Miami New Times Best Of 2003[4].
The Creek South Beach has been featured as a back drop for several films and tv productions over the years, most notably The Specialist (1994), Bad Boys (1995), Transporter 2 and several episodes of Miami Vice.