When millionaire entrepreneur John Jansheski decided he wanted to build a modern home to replace the ageing building that occupied his newly purchased lot on one of Miami’s most exclusive islands, he had two choices.

The first was a solution becoming increasingly popular to wealthy owners seeking to upgrade, that of razing the old building irrespective of any architectural merits, historical significance or aesthetic considerations.

Instead, Jansheski chose a highly unlikely and expensive option: lifting the structure from its foundations in its entirety and shifting it a hundred yards across the lot, serving the dual purpose of preserving a small slice of the city’s architectural past and preparing a space for its future.

The relocation of the seven-bedroom Mediterranean-revival style mansion, Jansheski admits, cost him “hundreds of thousands of dollars”. But for the same money he calculated he would have spent on lawyers’ fees and demolition costs, he gets to save the 1924 Star Island villa designed by Walter DeGarmo, the famed architect credited with helping to shape the face of early to mid-20th century Miami, and earns considerable goodwill with the city’s vocal preservation movement into the bargain.

“A lot of people thought we were stupid and crazy, it’s a lot of money to be spending,” said Jansheski, whose fortune came from founding oral care product company DenTek.

“But it made my heart race looking at the old house in its new location and we feel very smart. We’re in a good situation, but I know it’s not for everyone. It’s not like we’re the saints and the demolishers are the sinners.”

That is not how the preservationists see it, however. Earlier this year they lost a well-publicised and long-running battle to save a neighbouring period Star Island mansion owned by Jansheski’s close friend Leonard Hochstein, a prominent Miami plastic surgeon.

Together with his wife Lisa, star of the reality TV series The Real Housewives of Miami, the doctor known colloquially as “the Boob God” for his “enhancement” of a largely celebrity clientele faced down two lawsuits during an often personal fight, and finally won permission for demolition in March.

Already going up in its place is a 20,000 sq ft waterfront palace, complete with an enormous games room, walk-in wine cellar and 17-seat cinema. Such oversized homes, frequently occupied only by successful professional couples or their small families, have become known as McMansions.

“Look, it wasn’t Vizcaya,” Hochstein said of his now flattened 8,000 sq ft house, referring to the extravagant and elegant Italian Renaissance villa built on Miami’s waterfront early last century and now a popular museum listed as a national historic landmark.

“It was a very unspectacular property with no significance other than it was old. It was in very poor condition. Back in the 20s and 30s they mixed concrete with sand so it wasn’t very strong, and it didn’t meet any of the current building codes. There was really nothing to preserve.

“I knew I had the law on my side and we were always confident we would win. But these people [the preservationists] dragged it along,” he told the Guardian.

Ultimately, the preservationists lost because Star Island, home to celebrities including rapper Sean Combs and singer Gloria Estefan, and where properties change hands for tens of millions of dollars, is not a designated historic district of Miami Beach and the Hochsteins’ old house was not “architecturally significant” as per the city’s code for refusing demolition permits.

Yet the contrasting tales of 42 Star Island, owned by the Hochsteins, and Jansheski’s residence at number 27, are symbolic of the growing push towards demolition of period houses, and the subsequent backlash and momentum towards their preservation.

City of Miami Beach figures show that from 2005 to 2011, only 20 requests for the demolition and reconstruction of architecturally significant pre-1942 homes were submitted; another 20 more came in for the calendar year 2012; and from January to October 2013, the latest period for which figures are available, a further 40 applications were received.

James Murphy, principal planner for the municipality, described the trend towards development as “off the chain” and said that the city’s Design Review Board, the ultimate authority in decisions of destruction versus preservation, was trying to keep up.

“Development in Miami Beach, like many other cities, is resurgent and we are seeing many projects,” he said.

“The city values the preservation of historic and architecturally significant homes and structures, and continuously strives to balance the need and desire to preserve our urban fabric while allowing for iconic new development to occur. We continue to support historic preservation while encouraging only the highest and best architecture for new development.”

The preservationists, meanwhile, have been here before. The Miami Design Preservation League, which fought and won a battle in the late 1970s to save the curvy art deco facades of Miami Beach hotels and condominium blocks, is eyeing a way to convert what it claims to be a groundswell of support over the Hochstein villa into new legislation.

It is discussing with city commissioners a proposal that would require any application involving a property more than 50 years old to automatically go through a formal review process before demolition could be approved.

“McMansions don’t contribute anything to Miami Beach,” said Daniel Giraldo, preservation officer with the MDPL.

“What happened with Hochstein made the community realise what we stand to lose and that buildings nobody thought would ever disappear did because people don’t care about history and care only about building their dream home. Miami Beach is a symphony of beautiful buildings, and just like an orchestra where you take out one piece, you take out one building and it doesn’t sound as good.

“We have a treasure trove or remarkable architecture from the 1920s through to the second world war and it needs protection. There has been some progress but a lot more is needed, or much of our history is simply going to disappear.”