Cambridge Lawns - So, what's in a name?

Inspired by the college lawns & parks at England's Cambridge University, neighborhood history is linked to the University of Miami, with local streets originally called after famous U.S. colleges.

With the recently chartered University of Miami nearby, the Cambridge Lawns neighborhood was originally developed in the late-1920s specifically around a theme in keeping with higher education.

The neighborhood’s projected tree-lined canal and waterfront park were named by the subdivision’s developers with the college lawns and riverside parks at Cambridge University in England in mind; its street names were originally dubbed in honor of well-known U.S. universities -- SW 57th Street was then called “Harvard Avenue,” for example, while SW 57th Drive was “Princeton Boulevard” and SW 58th Street was originally named “Clemson Avenue.”

The connection was an obvious one, given the neighborhood’s location less than a mile from the new University of Miami, chartered in 1925 at the peak of the South Florida land boom. The Town of South Miami was formed in March 1926 and prosperity and the future were on everyone’s mind as the first 560 students enrolled for Fall Semester classes at the University of Miami in 1926.

Then, before classes had begun at UM, the Great Hurricane of 1926 swept through South Florida in September and put paid to the local land boom. Cambridge Lawns developers pressed on with construction and by 1928 had completed some 30 of the first homes in the neighborhood, in the signature Tudor Revival and Mediterranean Revival styles that today mark what is known as the Cambridge Lawns Historic District.

But, the onset of the Great Depression a year later and then the Second World War postponed further construction and the remainder of the homes in the Cambridge Lawns subdivision would have to wait until another era of prosperity, the post-war “Baby Boom” of the 1950s. By the time developers launched a new phase of homebuilding, student enrollment at the University of Miami was at 10,000 and the area seemed ripe for new homes for families, university professors and administrative staff.

The newer homes were built on the south side of Broad Canal (sometimes called "Brewer Canal"), in a fresh residential architectural style in keeping with the times. With about 2,000 square feet of construction on larger lots, these newer homes in the Cambridge Lawns subdivision were built along horizontal lines, with louvered windows and Florida rooms, several including backyard swimming pools -- all typical elements of the South Florida variation on the style that has come to be known as "Mid-Century Modern."

Situated just 0.7 miles walking or biking distance west of the University of Miami campus, the post-war homes extending to the south of Broad Canal today join with the earlier homes developed to the north of the canal to comprise the Cambridge Lawns neighborhood, which continues to retain its verdant, waterfront atmosphere and university associations a full eight decades since its founding in the mid-1920s.
Technorati tags: Miami, University of Miami, neighborhoods, historic district

Welcome to Cambridge Lawns, neighbor!

New residents of Cambridge Lawns can sometimes find the schedules and South Miami rules for pickup of garbage, recyclables and tree and yard clippings perplexing.

To help you work your way through the weeklong pickup schedule and rules & regs, here is what you should know:

Monday: Household garbage pickup – Waste Management picks up trash under contract with the City in the green authorized container, one per household; the container can be left at the front of your property from Sunday only.
Tuesday: Tree & yard clippings (not household garbage) are picked up by the City’s Public Works Department and can be left out over the weekend, but larger items (not appliances) can only be left overnight Monday for Tuesday morning pickup; City ordinance provides for individual pickup from the swale of each home and multiple homes are not allowed to share pickup spots.
NOTE: Since 2005, no dumping signs have been posted by the City on the canal side of both SW 57th St. and SW 57th Dr., making anyone dumping yard clippings or other items along the canal subject to fines.
Wednesday: Recyclables – use the green plastic tub for paper and the blue one for glass, aluminum and plastic, placing them at the swale in front of your house overnight from Tuesday evening for Wednesday pickup.
Thursday: Second household garbage pickup in the green authorized container, which can be left in front of your home overnight Wednesday for Thursday morning pickup.
Friday: No pickups scheduled.

If you you have any questions or complaints related to garbage pickup rules and regulations, you can contact the department of Code Enforcement via e-mail or call them directly at (305) 668-7335.

For information on the permissible amount of tree and yard clippings or other items you may place in the pile for Tuesday pickup, please check the City of South Miami website or contact Public Works via email or phone at (305) 663-6350.

Remember – neither the City nor Waste Management pick up car batteries or tires, construction debris, oil or grease. And, large household items like refrigerators, stoves, water heaters, washers and dryers will not be picked up in any of the regular collections, so you’ll need to call Public Works to schedule a special pickup of those items.

Cambridge Lawns - Brewer Park Improvements

In April 2005, Alan Ricke, Parks & Recreation Director for the City of South Miami, explains the projected changes to Brewer Park to several neighborhood residents.

Established on vacant property originally earmarked for homesites in the Cambridge Lawns subdivision, the neighborhood's own “pocket park,” Brewer Park, was named after longtime area resident George Brewer. Formally dedicated in 1956, Brewer Park has been an integral part of the neighborhood’s unique waterfront park-like atmosphere ever since. It provides multiple recreation opportunities for local residents, as well as habitat to the wonderful birdlife that has placed Brewer Park on the Audobon Society’s list of prime locations for bird-watching in the Miami area.

In 2005, the City commission and then-Mayor Mayor Scott Russell announced the availability of funds to complete the Brewer Park Improvements project and residents were briefed on the project by Parks & Recreation Department Director Alan Ricke, during the April 2005 ceremony in the park for the Cambridge Lawns Historic District designation.

As Ricke explained, the park improvements were to include mulched pathways, a new playground, swing set and kiosk picnic shelter; a decked “Manatee Overlook” to allow visitors to enjoy viewing the flora and faund along the banks of the Broad Canal (aka "Brewer Canal") in front of the park; and, new, mature trees to be planted throughout the park – including native Bald Cypress and near-native Crape Myrtles, complementing Cambridge Lawns’ signature towering Australian pines that were to remain along the park’s waterfront.

Then, the 2005 hurricane season hit and high winds toppled several trees -- Australian pines, huge tropical almond trees and sea grapes among them -- into both the center of the park and Broad Canal. Cleanup soon thereafter removed the fallen trees from inside the park and after several months, the parks’ traditionally gravel parking lot was paved with cement, and a new swing-set and playground were installed along with new fencing.

After more than a year, trees that had fallen into Broad Canal were removed in July 2006 when the County’s Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) brought in crews working with barges and heavy equipment to clear the trees and branches still in the water, taking along with them the few remaining Australian pines lining Brewer Park’s water front.

While the park's waterfront is now virtually treeless, Cambridge Lawns residents are anticipating word from the City that our Parks & Recreation department will soon move beyond the “recreation” stage of the improvements project. The next phase is expected to include planting of the Bald Cypress and Crape Myrtle trees that will contribute to restoring some of the park-like atmosphere and bird habitat for which Brewer Park and Cambridge Lawns have been known for many years.

The Cambridge Lawns Historic District

Former South Miami Mayor Mary Scott Russell presents Historic Site plaque to homeowner Bill Wilson during a ceremony in April 2005 in Brewer Park.

Residential real-estate development in the Cambridge Lawns neighborhood commenced at the tail end of the Miami real-estate boom of the 1920s with a group of houses built just north of the former stone quarry that became Broad Canal and adjacent to Brewer Park, itself established in 1926 commensurate with the founding of the City of South Miami that year.

The original developers' vision was to extend their Cambridge Lawns residential subdivision to the south of the canal, but the end of the "roaring '20s" building boom and the onset of the Great Depression stalled their plans -- and the remaining homes in the Cambridge Lawns neighborhood would not be built until the post-World War II era, when prosperity again returned to Miami and the country.

Those first homes built circa 1928 to the north of Broad Canal were in the Tudor and Mediterranean revival architectural styles, and are today often referred to as "cottages" because of their compact construction and relatively smaller lot size. Generally 1 1/2 stories, the Tudor Revival homes are noteworthy for their gabled facades and chimneys, while the Mediterranean Revival homes have textured or smooth stucco surfaces, ornamental window and door frames and barrel-tile roofs.

In April 2005, after months of meetings of the Historic Preservation Board and South Miami City Commission and input from local property owners, the original 31 residences and the large manor house with antebellum columns completed in 1934 at 5625 SW 62nd Avenue were designated part of the new Cambridge Lawns Historic District. Oval "Historic Site" plaques were presented to property owners by then-Mayor Mary Scott Russell in a special ceremony at Brewer Park on April 10, 2005.