What is now Miami City Hall was built in the 1930s by Pan American Airlines for its worldwide flying-boat terminal. The air terminal was sold to the city of Miami in 1946 and after a brief stint as Jackie Heller’s Dinner Key Terrace restaurant, the city converted the building into its City Hall in 1954.
The city removed the huge globe of the world that sat in the middle of the terminal and gave it to the old Museum of Science in Coconut Grove, and it has since been moved to Miami Worldcenter. The ceiling and wall murals disappeared under glued-on acoustical tile and multiple coats of paint and elaborate Art Deco entrance doors replaced with bland modern glass doors.
The 1931 building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places…