A 1930s Bungalow Puts a Miami Beach Spin on Art Deco
The newly listed home on San Marino Island is asking $2.875 million
BY NANCY A. RUHLING | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DECEMBER 25, 2023 | MANSION GLOBAL
The house is on San Marino Island, which is part of the Venetian Islands chain.
LUXHUNTERS
A 1930s Art Deco bungalow on Miami Beach’s San Marino Island has hit the market for $2.875 million, more than double what it last sold for 18 years ago.
The seller, Joseph F. Tringali, bought the property in 2005 for $1.35 million, according to property records. He renovated the house, including its conservatory-style glass addition that has a bath and shower, and gut-renovated the guest house, commissioning New York City-based designer Robert Kaner to create the Mid-Century Modern interiors.
Tringali, a retired lawyer who also owns a condo in New York City’s Greenwich Village, used the property on weekends and for vacations and spent winters there after retiring eight years ago, he said.
The yard has a waterfall and a swimming pool.
Luxhunters
“I had been visiting Miami for years, and I was intrigued by the house,” he said, adding that he had been staying in hotels before he purchased the property. “It was the perfect size for me and my guests—I didn’t want a mansion.”
He said that the original exterior and interior details remain.
“It’s the absolutely perfect beach cottage,” said Bill Hernandez of Douglas Elliman Florida, who co-listed it last week with colleague Bryan Sereny. “It’s light, it’s airy, it has glass and a lush landscape and citrus colors in the interiors—yellows and greens. South Beach is very much Art Deco, and this house is a bit of South Beach history.”
The one-story 1,774-square-foot main house and the guest house are on San Marino Island, which is in Biscayne Bay and is part of the man-made Venetian Islands chain.
The structures are painted a snow-white color as they were originally. The tropical-paradise-like grounds, landscaped by Key West-based India Swenson-Waring, are appointed with a swimming pool and a waterfall surrounded by tall palm trees.
“It takes years in South Florida to get this kind of mature landscape,” Hernandez said. “It looks like a botanical garden.”
The open plan of the main house, which has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, gives it a clean, crisp contemporary look. Its roof deck, reached via a spiral staircase, has lounge chairs set out for sunbathing.
The guest house, which has a bedroom, a bathroom, a closet and a kitchenette, is modeled after a compact elite hotel suite.
The carefully curated furnishings of the houses, excluding artwork, are available for a separate price.
Hernandez said that it’s rare to find two spacious structures on a lot that’s only 7,200 square feet.
“The house is in a perfect location because it’s close to South Beach and Downtown Miami yet it’s a complete tranquil space that’s beautiful to walk into,” Tringali said.
Tringali, 68, said he will miss the house but that he wants to live in different countries during his retirement. “I teach law classes at New York University, the University of Miami and in Europe and Asia,” he said. “I want to expand that to Asia and more of Europe.”