This is the richly decorated, highly sculptural lobby of The Office in the Grove, designed by architect Kenneth Treister in 1970. The building was modernist, but the lobby interior was richly covered in plaster and concrete bas reliefs, copper sculptures and light fixtures, and intricately carved wood elevator panels, depicting many of the natural wonders of the Office in the Grove’s surrounding neighborhood, a place where peacocks walk the streets (Some consider them a public nuisance sadly) and palm trees galore make the name ‘Coconut Grove’ literally true.

The photos are courtesy of Treister himself. Although the building still exists, the lobby was destroyed recently by owner and developer Mast Capital who is likely to oppose the Office in the Grove’s historic designation when it goes before the City of Miami Historic Preservation Board on June 6th. For more on the saga of the Office in the Grove’s preservation, see previous Big Bubble coverage here.

• Office in the Grove coverage [The Big Bubble]