U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Dinner Key, Barracks & Mess Building, 2610 Tigertail Avenue, Miami, Miami-Dade County, FL

Significance: The Barracks and Mess Building at the old U.S. Coast Guard Air Station at Dinner Key, Miami, Florida, is significant because of its association with the first permanent Coast Guard air station and its supportive role with the busiest air-sea rescue facility in the United States. Except for the old 1932 hangar, which is now a gym and recreation center of the City of Miami, the Barrack and Mess Building is the oldest and best-preserved building on the grounds of the old Coast Guard Air Station at Dinner Key. The building served the Coast Guard until 1965 when the Coast Guard relocated the air station elsewhere in the Miami area. The Barracks and Mess Building, along with support buildings and structures on the north side of South Bayshore Drive, were transferred to the Department of the Navy, which converted the facility into a naval reserve center in 1966. The Navy abandoned the complex in 1991 after construction of a new reserve center in northwest Dade County. The Barracks and Mess Building, along with other improvements on the property, has been declared in excess of the Navy's needs and is scheduled for disposal. The building is vacant and unused.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N275
Survey number: HABS FL-383-A