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| Freedom Tower Miami, 1928, Miami Art Reviews Vintage Postcard. |
THE FREEDOM TOWER — ARCHITECTURE, MEMORY & THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE NEW WORLD MURAL 1513
Where Architecture and Art Become One
The Freedom Tower stands today not only as a landmark of Miami, but as the architectural cradle that gave life to one of the city’s greatest artistic achievements: The New World Mural 1513, created in 1988 by The Miami Artisans, Wade Foy, John Conroy, William Mark Coulthard, Phylis Shaw, Gerome Villa Bergsen, and Ana Bikic.
Before it became a museum, before it became a historic landmark, and before it became a symbol of exile and refuge, the Freedom Tower became the canvas that inspired these six artists to create a monumental work that speaks to dignity, encounter, and truth.
The building and the mural are inseparable: one is architectural philosophy; the other, its pictorial reflection.
A Lighthouse of Civilization
Rising 255 feet over Biscayne Boulevard, the Freedom Tower, completed in 1925 by Schultze & Weaver, was envisioned by publisher James Middleton Cox, founder of The Miami Daily News. Cox conceived the building as Miami’s beacon: a tower of communication, human stories, and discovery.
Crowning the dome, the weathervane galleon sails eternally toward the horizon, symbolizing the 1513 voyage of Ponce de León, and echoing the earliest European maps of La Florida. Yet this site had meaning long before Spain’s arrival: the Tequesta people lived along the river they called Mayaimis, shaping the land long before the peninsula had any other name.
Cox’s tower, the “Skyscraper of the South”, became a monolith of dialogue, uniting the ancient past with modern journalism.
Architecture as Symbol
Constructed in reinforced concrete and dressed in pale limestone, the tower merges Old World memory with New World light. Its Spanish Renaissance–Mediterranean Revival design evokes Seville’s Giralda, while its broad base reflects the industrial energy of the 1920s newsroom.
Symbolically, the architecture itself forms an allegory:
• the strong base represents labor, knowledge, and reason
• the rising shaft represents aspiration and thought
• the dome represents illumination
• the ship represents humanity’s eternal search for truth
It is a building that thinks, and teaches.
Lives Within the Tower
As decades passed, the tower lived many lives.
In the 1960s, it became a welcoming station for Cuban refugees fleeing communism. Its halls, once filled with the sound of printing presses, filled again with the voices of families, arrivals, and rebuilding. The building earned its name, Freedom Tower, through the lives of those who passed through it.
Later, thanks to restoration architect Richard Heisenbottle, the building returned to cultural life. During this revival, the New World Mural 1513 was commissioned, a monumental work reflecting the tower’s deeper themes of encounter, reflection, and identity.
The Mural and the Mirror — A Dialogue with the Building
In the Grand Hall on the second floor, the mural forms a perfect dialogue with the architecture.
• The arches correspond to the sails of the galleons
• The vaulted ceiling echoes the curvature of the waves
• The mirror at the center turns every visitor into part of the story
The mural’s composition, with Ponce de León and the Tequesta Miamians depicted at the same height, separated only by Edwin Markham’s poem, was a deliberate artistic statement about equality, dignity, and historical truth.
The artists elevated both sides, correcting centuries of distortion and silence.
The mirror, a central symbolic element, reinforces the tower’s original calling: to see, to reflect, to record, to understand.
Legacy of Light
Today, designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark, the Freedom Tower stands at:
600 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, Florida 33132
Coordinates: 25.7800° N, 80.1897° W
It rises over the city as a tower of memory, uniting explorers, refugees, architects, artists, and citizens through one vertical gesture toward the sky.
It is within this architectural temple that the New World Mural 1513 continues to live, breathe, and reflect Miami’s identity.
VISIT OUR OFFICIAL PAGES
To learn the full history, see detailed documentation, and explore our archival material:
Official Mural Documentation
https://www.newworldmural1513.com
Miami Art Reviews — Articles, History & Cultural Analysis
https://miamiartreviews.blogspot.com
Read the Interview: VoyageMIA — Daily Inspiration: Meet Ana Bikic
https://voyagemia.com/interview/daily-inspiration-meet-ana-bikic/
CONTACT
Miami Art Reviews
Email: miamiartreviews@gmail.com
For mural history, archive access, or press inquiries:
Email: newworldmural1513@gmail.com (optional)
Contacts: miamiartreviews@gmail.com
Official Documentation: NewWorldMural1513.com
Artist Website: www.miamiartreviews.com
Interview: VoyageMIA – Daily Inspiration: Ana Bikic
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Ponce de León — History, Misrepresentation & the 1513 Voyage
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Tequesta Miamians — The First People of Miami & Their Place in the Mural
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