This dissertation traces the development of the architecture of Key West, Florida, from 1821 to 1912. Located on a small island lying midway between the southern tip of the Florida peninsula and Havana, Cuba, Key West seemed an unlikely candidate for becoming a major city when founded by American settlers shortly after Spain ceded Florida to the United States. However, a unique combination of geographical and historical circumstances made Key West of strategic importance both militarily and economically. / Historical developments eventually led Key West to become a cigar manufacturing and sponge fishing center with a population of 20,000 persons. The city's era of prosperity ended when those industries moved to new urban areas in Florida and brought further construction on the island to a halt. The decades of economic stagnation that followed helped preserve the approximately 3,000 pre-1912 buildings that today are found in Key West's Old Town. This study investigates the origins of the historic built environment and attempts to discover those forces that assured its preservation. / Although influenced by the pervasive romantic and revival movements that shaped American architecture in the nineteenth century, the overall context of the historic built environment of Key West is one of wood frame vernacular construction. To some degree the character of the architecture of Old Town reflects an adaptation to the peculiarities of the climate and topography of the island of Key West, but it also expresses the extent to which the citizens of the community were subject to transient economic influences, the benefits of which accrued to absentee entrepreneurs having no interest in the long-term welfare of the populace. / A wide variety of written and visual resources are examined to determine the physical appearance and density of development of the built environment at significant points in the island's history. These are analyzed against records showing the growth of Key West's various ethnic groups to determine what role they played, if any, in determining the character of the historic architecture of Old Town. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-03, Section: A, page: 0494. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76076 |
| Contributors | SHIVER, WILLIAM CARL., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 265 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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