The Collins Waterfront Architectural District covers the stretch of Collins Avenue from roughly 20th to 30th Street in Mid-Beach, where a concentration of 1940s–60s hotels represents the later wave of Miami Beach modernism. Where South Beach's Art Deco hotels are from the 1930s, these buildings reflect the postwar optimism of a different era: taller, bolder, with Miami Modern (MiMo) flourishes including butterfly roofs, brise-soleils, and cantilevered marquees.
Several of the district's signature hotels have been restored and are operational. The National Hotel, with its extraordinary 200-foot lap pool parallel to the beach, is the most visually impressive. Walking along Collins Avenue in this stretch gives a different, quieter read of Miami Beach's architectural history — less famous than South Beach but architecturally coherent and easier to appreciate without crowds. The buildings here were not protected until relatively recently; several were demolished before preservation advocates caught up with the threat.