Halissee Hall

This is going to be a long blog, one I wanted to do for a long time. Today I finally did my homework. This beautiful structure is smack in the middle of the huge medical complex that is the University of Miami UHealth and Jackson medical campus. It is called the Halissee Hall - Sewell Building, at the address of 1475 N.W. 12 Avenue, Miami, Florida. Its original name was just Halissee Hall. This building currently houses the offices of the University of Miami School of Medicine. As with any structure in the US, it has a legal description such as:

The west 230 feet of the north 180 feet of Tract A of the plat of CARDIAC HOSPITAL SUBDIVISION, as recorded in Plat Book 75 at Page 46, of the Public Records of Dade County, Florida.

This structure has been proposed to be zoned as a Heritage Conservation Zoning District in a designation report dated October 15, 1982 of the City of Miami Planning Department to the Heritage Conservation Board. It is now zoned as a Historic Site because it has architectural, historical and contextual significance.

Halissee Hall is significant for its association with John Sewell, one of Miami’s foremost pioneer citizens and the City’s third mayor. The building is also an excellent local example of Neo-Classical style architecture and is particularly noteworthy for the excellence of its design, craftsmanship and detailing.

If you look closely, you will have noticed that it is built with limestone.

The building was erected in 1912-1918 and it is described as follows:

Halissee Hall is a two-and-one-half story rectangular structure with five bays across the south (front) façade. The building is topped with a truncated hipped roof and is constructed of oolitic limestone quarried on the site. The 18 inch thick exterior walls are faced with random-coursed and roughly cut limestone. The main feature of the building is a two story portico extending across the entire length of the south façade. The portico features six fluted columns in the Composite order and a flat roof defined by a masonry balustrade. This balustrade is echoed by a similar balustraded deck on the roof.

Halissee Hall was originally located on a 14 acre tract of land on the highest point in Miami. Today, the building is located in the middle of the Jackson Memorial Hospital Complex and is surrounded by modern hospital buildings and parking lots. As a result, the entire context of the building has been drastically altered, particularly by the construction of the National Children’s Cardiac Hospital directly in front of the main façade. The west façade of the building now faces N.W. 12 Avenue, and the south (front) façade, with its monumental portico, is practically obscured from view.