Sea Level Rise Creeping Up on Miami Historic Landmark
Evidence of rising sea level can be seen creeping up on one of Miami Beach’s landmarks of 1920’s Mediterranean architecture. Originally, the residence located at 1818 Michigan Avenue was the home and studio of a well known portrait painter, Henry Salem Hubbel.
The building is still standing and can be seen from the parking lot of the Publix store on Dade Boulevard. A stain on the side of the building marks the upper level of the tides in the Collins Canal, which runs parallel to Dade Boulevard and empties into Biscayne Bay.
Over time, the position of this stain has crept up along the side of the building, keeping pace with rising mean sea level. Its present position, based on a photo from 2011, is about six inches above its position visible in a photo taken in 1939. Long term records of water levels measured by tide gauges show that mean sea level has increased by the same amount during this period.
According to projections by the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact sea level will continue to rise in Miami at an accelerating rate. Based on this information, it is possible anticipate how the future might unfold at 1818 Michigan Avenue.
By 2030, a year that is closer to us in time than the year that Hurricane Andrew devastated south Miami-Dade county, high water levels will have risen by perhaps another 5 inches (projected rise 3 to 7 inches). At this time, the floor level behind that door likely will be flooded at each high tide. By 2060, the water flooding through the door will be 17 inches higher than today (projected rise 9 to 24 inches) — deep enough to catch fish.
What do these changes mean for the historic neighborhoods of Miami Beach? Long before high tide begins creeping under the front doors of houses, it will already have infiltrated the ground beneath the floors. Streets will fill with water when it rains. High tides will flood storm drains and sewers, and salt water will poison Miami’s underground source of drinking water.
During the building boom of the 1920s civic leaders promoted a vision of the “Miami Riviera.” Picture postcards featured quaint images of Venetian gondoliers plying the placid waters of Biscayne Bay and the city’s canals, including this view of the historic residence at 1818 Michigan Avenue. Since that time, the waters of the sea have risen to engulf Venice, and now they threaten Miami as well.
Photo credits: University of Miami Library and the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
