Lester Avery was an architect in the United States. Avery began his career in Clearwater and is known for his

Mid-Century Modern architecture Mid-century modern (MCM) is a movement in interior design, product design, graphic design, architecture and urban development that was present in all the world, but more popular in North America, Brazil and Europe from roughly 1945 to 1970 during ...

apartment buildings in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and ranch style home designs with angled, flat roofs and merging wings.Florida Living: A Brilliant Mid-Century Makeover Sparkles in Rio Vista
by John T. O'Connor Tropic magazine (Fort Lauderdale) He expanded

Lawrence Murray Dixon Lawrence Murray Dixon (February 16, 1901 – October 8, 1949) was an architect in Miami Beach, Florida. He was born in Live Oak, Florida, attended the Georgia School of Technology (1918–1919) and worked in New York for Schultze and Weaver fro ...

The Temple House The Temple House is a private event space in the South Beach area of Miami, Florida, United States. Designed by L. Murray Dixon, it was once the largest single family residence in the city. The Temple House is frequently used as a location for ...

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a Neighborhoods of Miami Beach, Florida, neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south ...

area. Avery was the architect of

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city and the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, United States, west of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and north of St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies T ...

's Capitol Theatre (Clearwater, Florida), opened March 21, 1921. It was built by Senator-elect John Stansel Taylor and the contractor was John D. Phillipoff. He also designed the

Jackie Gleason Herbert John Gleason (born Herbert Walton Gleason Jr.; February 26, 1916June 24, 1987), known as Jackie Gleason, was an American comedian, actor, writer, and composer also known as "The Great One". He developed a style and characters from growin ...

House (1959) at 2232 Alton Road in Miami. Avery was arrested in Clearwater for culpable

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

in the death of his father, Lester Avery Sr., who had served as U.S.

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. Avery and has wife had taken a trip to Miami and were accused of leaving Avery's father without food or care, precipitating his death. Avery was 35 and already an accomplished architect in the city. Avery's style for residential architecture was characterized by one-story ranch designs with angled, flat top roofs and merging wings. He designed The Schubert Hotel and the Panama Club (Fort Lauderdale, Florida).

Works

* Temple House, 1960s expansion to convert it into a temple. Originally constructed as a home in 1933 it was converted back into a home in 2003. *817 Ponce De Leon Drive,

Rio Vista Isles Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

Mid-Century Modern Mid-century modern (MCM) is a movement in interior design, product design, graphic design, architecture and urban development that was present in all the world, but more popular in North America, Brazil and Europe from roughly 1945 to 197 ...

home. * Razel Apartments (1955), a

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

apartment complex with a flat roof designed in the

Miami Modern Miami Modernist architecture, or MiMo, is a regional style of architecture that developed in South Florida during the post-war period. The style was internationally recognized as a regionalist response to the International Style. It can be seen ...

(MiMo)

Garden Style architecture A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

. Built by Elco Builders. Symmetrical facades, open-air balconies and catwalks organized around a central open courtyard. Listed on the Miami Beach Architectural District in 1979 and the Ocean Drive/Collins Avenue District in 1986. * J. S. McNaulty House (1918) at 318 Druid in Clearwater *

Gulf Oil Station (Miami, Florida) A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of salt water that ar ...

(1938) at 1700 SW 22nd Street, with Curtis E. Haley from a prototype by

Russell Pancoast Russell Pancoast (February 13, 1899 – November 28, 1972) was an American architect and city planner who designed hundreds of buildings throughout Florida and the city master plan for Plantation, Florida. He and his father, Thomas J. Pancoast ...

. Designed with

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

and

Mediterranean Revival architecture Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references to Architecture of the Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonia ...

features, the station was constructed before the standardization of gas service station architecture. It includes columns supporting the canopies over the gas pumps. Gulf Oil Company built several stations in the Miami area based on architect Russell Pancoast's prototype, but this is the only surviving example.Gulf Oil Station
Historic Preservation Miami *229 NE 101 ST,

Miami Shores Miami Shores or Miami Shores Village is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The village is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,567, up from 10,493 in 2010. History By the early ...

The Schubert Resort ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

(1953) *4750 North Bay Road, Miami Beach *3330 Flamingo Drive, Miami Beach *927 Coral Way, Coral Gables *1430 NE 15th Ave, Ft Lauderdale *1247 Anastasia Avenue, Coral Gables

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avery, Lester Architects from Miami Year of death missing Year of birth missing