Henry Hohauser

Henry Hohauser (May 27, 1895, in New York, New York – March 31, 1963, in Lawrence, New York^[1]) was an architect in Miami Beach, Florida. He is known for his Art Deco architecture stylings, and is listed as a "Great Floridian"; in 1993, he was ranked as one of the 100 most influential people in South Florida history by The Miami Herald.^[2]

Hohauser studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, then he came to Florida in 1932. Features of his work include symmetry on the front elevation, Art Deco stylings such as a ziggurat or stepped roofline, glass bricks, curved edges, and neon lighting.^[3]

The show American Experience called Hohauser and L. Murray Dixon the principal architects of Deco South Beach, including "streamlined curves, jutting towers, window "eyebrows," and neon." Such buildings were less expensive and less ornamented than those by Carl Fisher, such as the Flamingo (building) and "seemed perfectly suited to a city created for sun, sand, and relaxation."^[4] His work was low cost in order to serve the middle class tourists. He designed more than 300 homes, apartment buildings, hotels, stores, restaurants and theaters.^[5] Many now are protected by the Miami Art Deco Preservation Society's efforts, particularly the efforts of Barbara Baer Capitman.