Blueprints for Beauty

100 Years Of Coral Gables Streetscapes – A Curatorial Vision

Coral Gables is a city designed to be walked. The beauty of its entrances, plazas, gateways, and boulevards – along with its lush nature – inspired Nobel Prize–winning poet Juan Ramón Jiménez to describe vivid images of his experience strolling the streets in his Romances de Coral Gables (1939–1942): “I stopped like a tree and heard the trees speaking […] How could I tell them no – that I was only a passerby, that they shouldn’t address me?”

“Blueprints for Beauty: 100 Years of Coral Gables Streetscapes,” the new exhibition at Coral Gables Museum, takes visitors on a walk through the city across a century. The show examines its public spaces and how they have shaped civic life – not only through its institutions, but also through the design of its buildings and the conception of its outdoor spaces.

Above: Coral Gables Museum Takes Visitors On A Walk Through A Century Of The City.

Alongside historical artifacts, artworks, planning documents, articles, and photographs, there are postcard notes, letters, and emails from Coral Gables tourists and residents narrating personal experiences of earlier decades. Rather than a single, linear story, these materials help weave a collective voice that complements the City of Coral Gables’ oral-history initiative, 100 Voices, and reminds us that cities are built as much on memory as on stone (see 100coralgables.com).

“I Stopped Like A Tree And Heard The Trees Speaking […] How Could I Tell Them No – That I Was Only A Passerby, That They Shouldn’t Address Me?”

“Blueprints for Beauty” also recognizes the foundations on which it stands. Arva Moore Parks’s landmark exhibition “Creating the Dream” (the Museum’s permanent exhibition from 2011 to 2022) set a standard for telling Coral Gables’ early history with clarity and care; the new exhibit has incorporated materials from that show, which the Museum has safeguarded over the years. A frieze of Coral Gables landmarks that once hung in Arva’s office appears here as both object and gesture: a compact record of place and a sign of her lasting influence on how we study and steward the city. Extending that legacy into the present, “The Placemaker-Poet” – a threescreen dramatic curation on the life and impact of founder George Merrick by What if Works draws directly on Parks’ research and writings, continuing the conversation she began.

The exhibition is an invitation to look closely at the city we share, to recognize what has endured, and to take part in what comes next. How can we maintain a coherent urban character while the city grows? How do we renew infrastructure without losing the details – materials, signage, proportions – that give streets their identity? How do we honor tradition while embracing modernity?

“Blueprints for Beauty” reflects the work and dedication of many people and institutions that guided the research and logistics: Dr. Paul George, resident historian at HistoryMiami Museum; author Patrick Alexander; the team at the City of Coral Gables Archives; Miami-Dade Public Library and the University of Miami archives; the Vasari Project; and the artists and private collectors who entrusted the museum with their materials. We encourage you to visit the exhibition, join the museum’s programs, and consider becoming a member. Together, we can keep the conversation – and the city – active and thriving.

Yuneikys Villalonga is the director of curatorial programs at Coral Gables Museum.