A Man with a Plan

Coral Gables founder George Merrick envisioned the city as a scenic suburb, based on prevailing “Garden City” precepts – and a reverence for Mediterranean Revival architecture.

By Bruce Fitzgerald and Karelia Martinez Carbonell. Photos by Steven Brooke.

Twenty-five years into the 20th century, Florida real estate developer George Merrick rode the national wave of optimism following the end of WWI and achieved his long-standing goal of creating a new resort destination in the heart of the American tropics. Coral Gables was on the map.

Merrick was not alone among the country’s developers in seeing opportunity in the creation of new places to live, work, and play. Similar projects were in the making in South Florida, and in Tuxedo Park and Forest Hills Gardens in New York, and Shaker Heights in Ohio. All contained discreet zones of functionality (residential, commercial, civic, industrial, etc.), and were notably distinguished by the integration of new construction with the natural environment. In Coral Gables, this resulted in an abundance of public parks, waterways, and generously landscaped streets and sidewalks, imparting a foundational “green” identity to the city that continues to this day.

Mr. Merrick took a team approach to planning and building Coral Gables. Architects, artisans, landscapers, investors, and residents all had a voice in creating someplace out of no place, adapting traditional building styles to the torrid climate of the southernmost tip of the U.S. mainland. In the end, a little South Florida town with no beach to speak of rose to the occasion and became a place that people are still talking about today, 100 years later.

De Soto Fountain (1925)

A monumental fountain designed by Denman Fink graces the intersection of Granada Boulevard, De Soto Boulevard, and Sevilla Avenue just blocks from the Biltmore Hotel.

Alhambra Water Tower (1923)

Essential city services were sometimes concealed behind or within structures that were designed to appear more like something they weren’t – in this case, like a lighthouse!

Granada Entrance (1922)

The first of four entrances designed by Denman Fink and Frank Button (here with Phineas Paist and Walter DeGarmo), this structure was built entirely of coral rock.

Fink Studio (1925)

Modest in size yet elegant in the use of Gothic window details, setbacks, and varied rooflines. Fink’s studio epitomizes the city’s composite approach to urban design.

Coral Gables Elementary School (1923)

When it opened in the fall of 1923, the school had 39 pupils and one teacher, all guided by Merrick’s belief that “beautiful things inspire higher ideals in the minds of children.”

The Merrick House (1910)

The “first family’s” home exemplifies the city’s early adoption (and subsequent adaptation) of prevailing U.S. architectural styles using local (and more readily available) building materials.