Person:Manfredi Mancusi-Ungaro (1)

Manfredi (Manfred) Mancusi-Ungaro (Fig. 19) was born in Sarno, Italy in 1888. Around 1900, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and siblings to join his father Edmund, who had immigrated in 1897. The family settled in Newark, New Jersey. Manfred became a naturalized citizen in 1911. He was in the Class of 1911 at the Columbia University School of Engineering.

He practiced as an architect and civil engineer in the Newark area until the early 1920s, when he relocated to Los Angeles, California. In the 1921 Los Angeles City Directory, he is listed as a civil engineer with Pac Ready-Cut Homes Company. By 1927, he had moved back to the Newark area. He moved to Miami in 1936 and remained a South Florida resident for the remainder of his life.

Mancusi-Ungaro, who was often known as Manfred M. Ungaro or M. M. Ungaro, established an architectural and engineering practice at 7927 NE 2nd Avenue in Miami. His early work consisted primarily of single family homes and duplexes with some commercial projects, including stores and offices. His earliest homes were in the Mediterranean style, which was typical of the time and place. By the late 1930s, his work was beginning to reflect some modernist influences, with features such as corner windows and flat roofs. (Fig. 21) He had several commissions that included multiple residences.

Ungaro was listed as an active member of the Florida Association of Architects in their April 1938 bulletin.

During World War II, Ungaro served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. By March 1945, he had been discharged by the Army and had resumed his architectural practice with an office in the Olympia Building at 174 E. Flagler Street, Miami.

Manfred Mancusi-Ungaro was a prolific architect who designed single family homes, commercial buildings and religious buildings, but his main focus was on apartments and small motels. In the post-war period, he embraced Modernism and produced a number of buildings in the vernacular MiMo style. The postwar MiMo style is especially evident in the northern areas of Miami Beach. Approximately 16 of Ungaro’s works are listed as contributing buildings in the North Shore and Normandy Isles Historic Districts.

Although not as famous as some of his contemporaries, he was part of the group of architects who defined a new direction of design in the mid-20th century in South Florida.

1.   Heritage Architectural Associates. HISTORIC RESOURCES REPORT SORRENTO VILLAS.
2. ↑ The Columbian - Yearbook. (Columbia University).