100 YEARS OF SOLICITUDE
THANKS TO DECADES OF TLC, MANY OF OUR 1925 HOUSES STILL LOOK BEAUTIFUL
BY BRUCE FITZGERALD AND KARELIA MARTINEZ CARBONELL CONTEMPORARY PHOTOS BY VICKI CERDA
As the Coral Gables centennial celebration begins, the time seems right to remember that, from the beginning, this city was envisioned as a planned community. Its founder had preemptively sent his team of artisans, architects, and visionaries to the Mediterranean islands to study the designs he believed best adaptable to South Florida. “We have very strict restrictions in the construction of houses,” George Merrick told an interviewer in 1925, “… another feature in which we blazed the trail.”
Coral Gables didn’t just happen, although a case can be made in 2025 that the city is more “happening” than ever. But at the time of its inception, Merrick paid great attention to how residents would work, play, shop, worship, and, perhaps most importantly, live. “Homes,” he declared, would be “built for modest incomes alongside grand palazzos… producing a truly democratic development.” Artistically, these buildings would feature red-clay tile roofs, arched and columned porticos, pastel-colored window awnings, and asymmetrical massing of the whole structure. They would be classic with a twist – perhaps of orange?
One hundred years on, “Centennial Houses” are having a moment. The homes we highlight in this issue were all permitted, designed, and/or built in 1925, the same year as the City of Coral Gables’ incorporation. All are historically designated. All of them still exist through the patience and patronage of their owners and concerned citizens.
COMING IN 2025
Recently, Commissioner Ariel Fernandez sponsored an initiative to honor the City’s centennial and its 100-year-old homes by creating medallions that will be added to the plaques currently identifying our historically designated properties.
ALTARA AVENUE
1925
This two-story home, with its signature cylindrical entrance tower, was designed in 1925 by Robert Law Weed as one of 17 houses in George Merrick’s Italian Village. It was once occupied by Ruth Bryan Owen, the first woman to be appointed a U.S. ambassador. She was the daughter of William Jennings Bryan, the three-time presidential candidate and great orator, who was hired by Merrick to promote Coral Gables’ tourism and development. The Altara house is listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the Coral Gables Register of Historic Places.
SOPERA AVENUE
1925
Designed by noted Chicago architect Alfred F. Schimek in 1925 and located in the city’s Country Club Section, this charming two-story home displays several key components of the Mediterranean Revival style – arched entryway, arched sunporch openings, varied rooflines – and is widely known as the Permuy house due to its long-time occupancy by Marta and Jesus Permuy, who nurtured the careers of many Cuban artists. The house was featured in the book, “Cuban-American Art in Miami: Exile, Identity and the Neo-Baroque.”
GRANADA BOULEVARD
1925
Built in 1925 using local coral rock as its primary building material, this one-story historically designated home was designed by H. George Fink, once called “The Henry Ford of Architecture” by the New York Herald Tribune. The residence is one of 27 Coral Gables buildings that constitute the Coral Rock Thematic Group. Two of the home’s early occupants were Mayor David H. Hendrick, Jr. and his wife Mildred. Hendrick served as the mayor of Coral Gables from 1952 to 1954.
ALEDO AVENUE
1925
California-based architect Samuel Wyvill designed this two-story home in classic Mediterranean Revival style, with an asymmetrical facade punctuated by an arched entrance flanked by twisted columns. The house itself sits majestically on an 11,000-square-foot lot, surrounded by gardens and mature trees.
ASTURIA AVENUE
1925
This relatively modest residence was designed in 1925 by architect H. George Fink. The one-story building is one of the city’s earliest homes, and stands as proof that even with minimal decorative features, a Coral Gables home could be elegant and welcoming. Only minor alterations have been made to the house since 1925.
SEVILLA AVENUE
1925
Permitted in 1925 by the architecture firm Ursam & Marquard, this home features the simple, asymmetrical massing that typifies many of the earliest Coral Gables residences. Dr. Edward Sterling Nichol, its original owner, was an internationally renowned cardiac physician and founder of the Miami Heart Institute. In 1956, the home was purchased by Evelyn and Aubrey Clements, whose family occupied it until 2021.
PALMARITO STREET
1925
Designed in 1925 by Robert Law Weed as one of 17 houses within the Italian Village, this 3,600-square-foot home was inspired by the classic Italian farmhouse, with balconies supported by rustic brackets and walled gardens surrounding the building. A notable 1930s resident was Ralph Wilkins, president of the Granada Shops, which in later years housed the Charade restaurant.
ALHAMBRA CIRCLE
1925
This 1925 single-family home is a contributing building in the Alhambra Circle Historic District, which consists of 196 homes designed by architectural luminaries including H. George Fink and Walter de Garmo. The home’s façade features coral rock design elements, arched windows, and an arched front entrance. A low surrounding wall completes the exterior plan of this estate-like property.
NORTH GREENWAY DRIVE
1925
Designed by Lewis D. Brumm, this large, impressive home is a contributing building in the Country Club of Coral Gables Historic District, which includes the Granada Golf Course (the city’s first golf course) as well as the Country Club of Coral Gables and 84 residences. Interior features include four wood-burning fireplaces, beamed ceilings, and Dade County pine floors.
SOUTH GREENWAY DRIVE
1925
H. George Fink was the architect of this grand and elegant home overlooking the Granada Golf Course. Designed in full-on Mediterranean Revival style, the house features multiple interior archways and an exquisite, tiled stairway leading to the second floor. Lush, formal landscaping surrounds the house, which is a contributing building in the Country Club of Coral Gables Historic District.
SAN DOMINGO STREET
1925
Designed, owned, and built by Wilbert Harbon, this home was the only building on the street until 1936. It features signature historic components such as rough-textured exterior walls, a prominent chimney, a masonry balconette on the ground floor, and varying roof lines and cast masonry shapes at the parapet and wing wall. A coral rock wall runs along the rear property line.
LISBON STREET
1925
One of the early owners of this charming home was H. Willard Hubbell, son of renowned artist Henry Salem Hubbell. His son became a noted inventor, contractor, and engineer whose company, Hubbell and Hubbell, built a home for the Fairchilds as well as Casa Casuarina, Gianni Versace’s former home on Miami Beach.