Bacardi Building
The distinctive blue-and-white Bacardi Building, which rose from Miami’s skyline has long been a landmark, with its modernist architecture and prominent location on Biscayne Boulevard. The eight story tower was built in 1963 by Cuban-born architect Enrique Gutierrez. The blue-and-white tile murals of flowers, by Brazilian artist Francisco Brennand, adorn the full height of the tower’s north and south flanks, in contrast to the minimalist, tinted glass of the east and west facades. The second building, behind the tower, is a square, two-story annex built in 1972, balanced atop a small orange cube and suspended 47 feet above the plaza that separates it from the tower. Its four walls are translucent slabs of concrete and stained glass that tell, in abstract form, the story of sugar cane’s transformation into rum. Now the home of the National YoungArts Foundation, the complex also remains a symbol of triumph over adversity by Miami’s Cuban exiles. The Bacardi Company’s assets were seized by Cuba’s Castro government but the company repositioned itself as a multinational corporation.
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