World of Bacardi Museum – Bacardi Building

The World of Bacardi Museum covers corporate and Bacardi family history from 1862 through until today. Unfortunately though, the museum is currently closed to the public.

Architecturally, the Bacardi Building on Biscayne Boulevard was recently awarded with a historic designation by the City of Miami.  The building, north of Downtown Miami is a unique interpretation of the MIMO style (Miami Modernist) typical of Miami in the middle of the twentieth century.

Designation was awarded to the three structures on the site: the tower, the square cantilever building, and the plaza designed by Cuban architect Enrique Gutierrez with murals by Francisco Brennand. 

The Tower

• Designed by Architect Enrique Gutierrez in 1963, this is perhaps one of the most uniquely “decorated” buildings in Downtown Miami. It houses the museum, office space, and a top floor dining room. The tower is built of reinforced concrete, overlayed with two huge ‘azulejos’, or ceramic tile murals done in the traditional Spanish colors of blue and white, by Francisco Brennand of Recife, Brazil. The Bacardi tower murals are made of 28,000 hand-painted, glazed, baked, 6″ x 6″ tiles surrounded by a marble border.

The Square Cantilever Building

• In 1973, Bacardi added the fascinating square building in the west side of the plaza. The square building, raised 47 feet off the ground around a central core, features four massive walls, comprised of chunks of 1″ thick hammered glass mural tapestries, designed to withstand hurricane force winds. The architect of the building was Ignacio Carrera-Justiz of Coral Gables, FL. Abstract modern style on all four sides, this unusual building has two floors which cantilever out 24 feet on each side of the central core.

The Plaza

• A public space elevated from the street designed to cover the underground parking garage. The Bacardi logo is visible on the ground in black.