Wolfsonian–FIU
Miami
The Wolfsonian–FIU is a museum, library and research center about design. It stands in Miami Beach, in a 1927 storage warehouse on Washington Avenue.
A warehouse for furniture
In 1927 the firm Robertson & Patterson built the Washington Storage Company building here. It had thick concrete walls and a tall ground floor, so cars could drive in. In 1936 the architect Robert M. Little added two floors. The building stayed like that, five floors high, for fifty years.
The collector
Mitchell "Micky" Wolfson Jr. was born in Miami in 1939. Since the 1970s he has collected design objects, rare books and drawings. He stored them in this very building, until he bought it in 1986. By then his collection filled almost the whole warehouse.
From warehouse to museum
In 1992 the architect Mark Hampton turned the building into a museum. The ground floor became a modern lobby, and the upper floors became exhibition rooms. The museum opened to the public in 1995.
A huge collection
Today there are a great many objects. There are furniture, glass, ceramics, radios, cameras and books. Many come from Europe and the United States. There are also objects from the great world's fairs and architects' drawings. The library welcomes students and researchers from all over the world.
