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| A 1920s-era Abreu-designed home, now Casablanca Cafe on A1A, near Las Olas |
By Jane Feehan
While Palm Beach and Boca Raton bear the imprint of Addison Mizner’s distinctive style, Fort Lauderdale can also claim the influence of an architect during the 1920s land boom.
Francis Luis Abreu (1896-1969), son of Cuban sugar plantation owners Diego and Marie Abreu, moved to Fort Lauderdale (where they resided) after graduating from Cornell University.
Early in his career, Abreu designed a winter home for his grandfather, Juan Jacinto Jova (today the Casablanca Cafe), and moved on to other buildings. His work featured barrel tile roofs, twisted columns, arched walk-ways, antique lanterns, iron gates and heavy dark wooden doors.
His Fort Lauderdale architecture includes (all projects not listed):
The Moroccan-style Casablanca Café at 3049 Alhambra St., Fort Lauderdale beach, a 1920s era home converted to a restaurant
Casino Swimming Pool, 1928
Las Olas Sailboat Bend Fire Station
Dania Beach Hotel, 1925
Needham House, 1925
The Saint Anthony School at 820 NE. 3rd St.,Ft. Lauderdale, 1926, which is on the National Register of Historic Places
The Fort Lauderdale County Club, 1926
Old Post Office at 330 SW 2nd Street, 1927
Riverside Hotel, 720 E. Las Olas Blvd., 1936 (today, the city's oldest hotel, it opened as the Champ Carr Hotel )
Towers Apartments, 824 SE 2nd St. (once largest apartment building, now a retirement home and awarded Broward County historic designation in 2015)
Abreu moved to Georgia where he formed a partnership with James Robeson (Abreu and Robeson) and gained recognition for designing the Cloister Hotel on Sea Island, a home for playwright Eugene O’Neal, also on Sea Island, and a number of public buildings.
Note: Architect John Peterman of Miami also designed a number of public Fort Lauderdale buildings before, during and after Abreu's time in the city until the late 1950s or early 60s.
He moved from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and remained in town long after Abreu left. The Southside School, recognized as his first project, stands as a historical landmark today.
According to the Fort Lauderdale News, Peterman was suspended for one year from the Florida State Board of Architects in 1959 because of work on the Wolcott Building in Pompano. He died in 1969.
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Sources:
McIver, Stuart. Glimpses of South Florida History. Miami: Florida Flair Books, 1988.
McIver, Stuart. Glimpses of South Florida History. Miami: Florida Flair Books, 1988.
Abreu Foundation
Ancestry
Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 15, 1925
Fort Laauderdale News, Jan. 7, 1927
Fort Lauderdale News, May 7, 1959
HistoricStructures.com
Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale architecture, Florida history, Francis L Abreu, John M. Peterman
