Come visit us South of 5th!
Stay in our beautiful condos during your visit to Miami Beach
Come visit us South of 5th!
About the Property
We are a small group of owners from around the world who love Miami. Many of us stay in our condos throughout the year, but we also offer the rare opportunity to stay at a licensed Airbnb in South Beach.
The welcoming property offers:
- Three buildings with a total of 33 studios, one- and two-bedroom units. The three-story main building has an elevator.
- All units have full kitchens, central air conditioning, washer/dryer combos, and hurricane impact windows.
- Beautiful, lush, tropical gardens with palms trees, ficus trees, hibiscus plants, bougainvillea, blooming orchids, and 20-plus more species.
- Our small heated pool is open year-round with lounge chairs and dining table.
- High speed WIFI in every unit and throughout the property.
- An outdoor patio with a gas grill for barbeques.
- Two outdoor lounge areas.
- Located on a quiet street in the highly sought-after South of 5th neighborhood in Miami’s famed South Beach.
- Two blocks from the spectacular white sand beaches that make Miami a world famous destination.
- Walking distance to top restaurants that are considered some of the best in Miami.
Enjoy the many Local Activities!
South of Fifth has so much to offer...
South Pointe Park
This park is one of the best places to visit during your stay at The Fountain. It’s easy to walk, jog or bike there by turning right (heading South) onto the Beachwalk at 3rd Street, that runs in front of the beach. There is a hive of activity in this park from dawn until dusk. Sunday evenings are always festive when people and their pets gather for picnics, salsa lessons, balancing slack lines, and acro yoga, all with a parade of departing cruise ships in the background. Along the path is Smith & Wollensky or Monty's Sunset at the Miami Beach Marina for a cocktail or a meal.
Rent a bicycle from any of the stands nearby. The closest is located at 3rd Street and Washington Avenue. Ride through South Pointe Park or follow the Beachwalk to the north as far at 100th Street. Bicycles are rented by the half hour or all day or week depending on your desire. Bikes can be returned to any stand which allows for one way trips too!
Everywhere on earth your beach is named by the street where you enter it. We are so lucky to have 3rd Street beach to be “our beach!” Besides being one of the widest and most beautiful beaches in Miami, it’s well-known for its year-round “yoga by donation,” two times each day, at dawn and dusk. It’s so popular that many of our guests come just to join the daily ritual.
Sobe Surf or Miami Surf Academy
Surf lessons are offered on 1st Street beach in the mornings. Paddle boarding is offered on the bay side all day.
Take a Zodiac boat sightseeing tour to explore the area from the water. Different excursions with expert guides will take you to see marine life such as dolphins, manatees, tarpon and sea rays, as well as the city skyline, the Miami River, and Biscayne National Park. Daily departures from the Miami Beach Marina. Book in advance.
Scuba and snorkeling trips throughout the week. They also offer scuba dive courses and certifications. At the Miami Marina at 300 Alton Road.
Enjoy the many Local Activities!
A bit of everything...
Official Art Deco Walking Tour
Led by the Miami Design Preservation League, learn about the world’s largest collection of Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival and Miami Modern architectural styles found in the historic district’s hotels, restaurants and other notable buildings. Tours departs every morning at 10:30 am from 1001 Ocean Drive.
Lincoln Road Antique and Collectible Market
Select Sundays from October to May. The colorful market is full of mid-century modern antiques, vintage clothes and jewelry along with some new local designers. Well worth a walk through after 11 am on select Sundays. Dates are listed on their website.
This small and worthwhile contemporary art museum is a nice walk, bike or free trolley ride from The Fountain, or a perfect rainy day activity. 2100 Collins Avenue, closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Practically across the street, this small but wonderful museum focuses on old photographs, artifacts, memorabilia, and stories about the long-standing Jewish community in Miami Beach and Florida. Free Saturdays.
Hidden behind the Convention Center at 2000 Convention Center Drive, this lush 3-acre garden has more than 100 species of palm trees, orchids, a koi pond and fountains. A bit of a best kept secret that will thrill those who visit. Free outside of special events.
Great Restaurants and Meal Deals!
Just steps from The Fountain
We are lucky to live in a neighborhood filled with some of the best (and most expensive!) restaurants in the entire country, all within steps of The Fountain. The list of those extravagant restaurants is long. Some of our favorites include Joe’s Stone Crab, Prime 112, Estiatorio Milos, Stubborn Seed, Abbale, and Carbone Miami to name a few.
Any of those restaurants would be worthy of a splurge during your stay, especially if you are celebrating a special occasion. But, since we are locals, and since we want you to live like locals, we are going to share our list of neighborhood “meal deals” that you might not find without us!
Meal Deals nearby
A fun, Greek restaurant at the Hilton Bentley South Beach with a swimming pool and plentiful indoor/outdoor seating. Go for “Happy Hour” from 3 pm until 7 pm, Monday through Thursday, or 3 pm until 5 pm, Friday through Sunday. An extensive menu is served with drinks and dishes that are mostly $7 or $9. During busy holidays, these times are sometimes altered, so it’s good to call them first.
A Mexican restaurant at the Marriott Stanton that offers “Taco Tuesdays” with half-priced tacos and a $5 shot of mezcal! Food is authentic and tasty. Try the avocado tacos, or the loaded fries, and thank us later! Offered all-day, every Tuesday.
An expensive and elegant, white table-clothed, Greek seafood restaurant that is known throughout Miami for its three-course, prix-fixe lunch menu for $48. Served seven days a week from 12 noon until 3 pm. Great way to luxuriate yourselves on a rare rainy afternoon.
The famous Brazilian steakhouse with many locations has become a local favorite for their generous “Gaucho Lunch.” It’s hard to beat their all-you-can-eat salad bar called the Market Table for $18 per person, and you can add a single grilled meat for $10 - $12 (shareable too!) The also have a great “All Day Happy Hour” with $7 wines, $5 beers and $9 cocktail specials. Try the best caipirinha we’ve ever tasted when the rolling cocktail bar comes by to make your drinks tableside!
Happy Hour from 5 pm to 8 pm, Monday through Friday, with live bands on Fridays. Half-off well drinks and discounted drink specials. Nice setting outside at the Miami Beach Marina. Serves pub-style food with a raw bar that offers stone crab claws in season.
Our Architecture Story at The Fountain
The Fountain Condominium is a unusual combination of three architectural styles that prevail in Miami Beach:
- Building 334 (the Main Building): Mediterranean Revival (MedRevival)
- Building 344 : Art Deco
- Building 338 (the Pool House): Mid-Century Modern, or Miami Modern (MiMo)
Med Revival
The 334 Building, built in 1924, is a testimony of the first style that existed in Miami Beach: Med Revival. The original idea was to replicate a Mediterranean village, with red clay, tile roofs, terracotta, or white stucco walls, wrought iron balconies, and picturesque courtyards with lush vegetation. It’s a combination of Mediterranean (hence the name) palaces and seaside villa styles from Italy, Spain, and France. During the roaring 20’s, the new wealthy were looking for winters in the sun and the med revival style was bringing them the Mediterranean flair, without the long overseas trip.
Famous Med Revival buildings:
- Villa Vizcaya, Coral Gables
- Casa Casuarina (the Versace Mansion), Ocean Drive
- Freedom Tower, Miami
- The Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables
- The Wolfsonian FIU, Washington Avenue (South Beach)
- Española Way, South Beach. It’s a large and wonderful example of the “Mediterranean village” style that was planned for all of Miami Beach back then
Hints to recognize the style:
- Red roof tiles
- Stucco walls (kind of a “grubby” layer of painting)
- Any kind of “palace” like decor
- Wrought iron
What can we spot on building 334?
- Stucco walls
- Wrought iron
- Front patio with plants
Art Deco at The Fountain
Art Deco
While Med Revival was inspired by the past, and by a fantasy of the Mediterranean, Art Deco, building 344, is a style turned towards the future, towards modernism.
It’s first name was “Style Moderne” (the term “Art Deco” was only given as from the 1980’s), after the 1925 “Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes” held in Paris. The idea of this exhibition was to showcase the avant garde architecture and design in Europe and in the world. Sixteen million people visited it and the architects Henry Hohauser and L. Murray Dixon (now the most famous Art Deco architects in South Beach) imported this modern style to Miami Beach and adapted it to the sea resort lifestyle. After the devastating hurricane of 1926, Miami Beach was rebuilt in the trendy style of the moment : Art Deco.
As from 1930, a new middle class was looking for affordable vacation. Instead of grand luxurious (Med Revival) hotels like the Flamingo (on Biscayne Bay but demolished since), they favored small buildings with small units.
After the “Skyscraper Style Art Deco” wave seen in large northern cities, Miami experienced a second wave, called “Streamline Modern”, or (very locally) “Tropical Deco”. The Radio broadcasting era and its modernity was also an important inspiration of the Miami Art Deco. Spires on some buildings were inspired by speed, power and flight. The flamingo (although there weren’t ever any in Miami) and the fountain theme are also common decors. The cruise ship, its railings and portholes are typical of the Miami Art Deco.
Thanks to Barbara Bear Capitman, and her friend, Leonard Horowitz, a New York furniture designer, who fought against the demolition of this patrimonial legacy in the 70s’, South Beach is today the largest Art Deco district in the world, with around 800 buildings between 5th and 23rd Streets. It was protected in 1979 and the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL), the design association they founded is still active in preserving the area. One way of revamping the derelict Art Deco houses in the 80’s, was to repaint them in pastel colors (they used to be mainly off-white), according to Leonard Horowitz’s palette inspired by “sunset, sunrise, the summer and winter oceans and the sand on the beach.”
Famous Art Deco buildings:
- Almost all Ocean Drive Buildings
- The Delano Hotel
- The Tudor on Washington
- The Marlin on Collins Ave
- … and numerous private buildings around South Beach
Hints to recognize Art Deco :
- Flat roofs
- Shape of the buildings is often divided into a symmetry of three,
- Geometrical and elegant
- Eyebrows (an overhang over a window to shield from sun and rain)
- Round porthole windows
- Terrazzo floors
- Often curved edges and corners
- Neon lighting (used in both exteriors as well as interior spaces)
- Stylized geometrical or tropical ornamentation
- Low-relief decorative panels
What can we spot on building 344?
- Symmetry
- Geometrical
- Flat roof
- Elegant
- Black stone inlay
Mimo at The Fountain
MiMo
The building 338, known as the Pool House, is in MiMo Style, i.e. Miami Modern style. It is also known as mid-century modern, being typical of the 50’s, and is the local interpretation of the Style International, born after WWI and inspired by Bauhaus, Ries von de Rohe or Le Corbusier. The concept was to create an entirely new style, liberated from the past, with no decoration, and using new materials, like concrete or glass curtains walls (seen in skyscrapers).
Morris Lapidus perfectly exemplifies the Miami Modern Style. He invented Lincoln Road, with its water pools and modern geometrical decorative structures (follies). Post WWII optimism, economic prosperity and new construction techniques show in the vibrant colors and forms of the style.
MiMo is fun, glamorous, tropical and contrasts with the more minimalistic movements of that period. It’s mainly located in middle/North Beach and on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. A significant area of more than 200 buildings has been protected recently in North Beach.
Famous MiMo Buildings:
- Lincoln Road
- Fontainebleau Hotel
- The Vagabond Motel (Biscayne Boulevard)
- Bacardi Building
- The MDPL has dedicated tours to get to know this fun style.
Hints to recognize MiMo:
- Pylons and fins
- Sometimes asymmetrically built
- Chalet-type structure with open pool area
- Sweeping curves
- Breeze blocks (blocks with various geometrical patterns) and cheeseholes
- Catwalks
- Decorative railings
- Contrasting textures of stone
- Brick tile
- Patterned stucco
- Modern geometric designs
What can we spot on our building 338?
- Asymmetry
- Breezeblocks in the pillars
- Catwalk on the first floor
- Decorative railings
Transportation Around Our Location
Uber and Lyft are easy to call and will only ever take a few minutes at any time of day or night. The fare from Miami International Airport (MIA) by taxi is a $35 flat rate. The taxi fare from Ft. Lauderdale International Airport (FLL) is $75-$95. The fares for the mobile apps can be a little less if not during peak hours. MIA is about 20 minutes away and FLL is about 45 minutes away.
From MIA, guests can take the 150 Miami Beach Airport Express to 2nd Street and Washington Avenue. This runs every half hour from 5:15 a.m. until 8:45 p.m. daily. It costs $2.25 per person and takes an hour.
Trolleys depart and return to 2nd Street and Washington Avenue. Choose your side of the street based on the direction you are heading. South will go around the point and north along Alton Road, and North will take you up Washington Avenue. The trolley service operates seven days a week, 15 hours a day, from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m., approximately every 20 minutes. Download an app called TSO Miami Beach Trolley that will give you the routes, stops, and exact timing of the next trolley if you don’t want to wait around at the stop. The trolley is a great way to get to Lincoln Road Mall, Espanola Way, the Bass Museum, the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, and the Convention Center.
A fun excursion to go from the Miami Marina to Bayside Marketplace/Downtown Miami. A little pricey at $35 round trip but still the cheapest way to get on a boat! This taxi may also be extended to a tour of the bay area. You can walk to the Frost Science and Perez Museums from Bayside.
Beyond South Beach...
Little Havana
We love Little Havana for a night out or even an afternoon. Enjoy Cuban coffee, mojitos, hand-rolled cigars and live music while strolling between a few art galleries and small shops. Don’t miss Domino Park to watch a lively game of dominoes or chess. Visit to the Bay of Pigs statue in honor of the failed 1961 attempt by Miami’s Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro. There are many walking tours offered online that give nice overview of the fascinating history of the area. We suggest looking through Airbnb Experiences to find one since many of you have booked your stay through Airbnb. To drink and eat, we recommend Ball & Chain (live music and dancing), Old’s Havana (lunch or dinner, live music), and Café La Trova (dinner and dancing). The heart of the area is on Calle Ocho between 13th and 17th Streets.
Wynwood
Wynwood is another fun outing that is best in the afternoon or evening. It’s a warehouse district with fantastic bars, restaurants, and hundreds of colorful outdoor murals on building walls. Explore the Wynwood Walls, an ever-evolving collection of outdoor murals by famous street artists such as Shepard Fairey, Kobra, Swoon, and Kenny Scharf to name a few. Take a golf cart tour of the other murals in the area offered by Wynwood Art Walk Tours. Enjoy the great modern art collections at Rubell Museum Miami or the Margulies Collection. There is an abundance of top-level food and drink options with fun party atmospheres in the neighborhood. Here are a few we recommend Coyo Taco (there is a secret lounge in the back), Bakan for excellent Mexican food and perfect margaritas, Doya for modern Greek and Turkish cuisine, KYU for Asian-inspired barbecue dishes, Gramps for pizza, beer, and live entertainment, Cerveceria La Tropical a craft brewery from Havana with a bandshell, and Lagniappe with wine, charcuterie, and live music every night.