Historic Preservation – Carved in Coral Rock

How strong is Coral Gables’ commitment to historic preservation? City Hall, designed by architect Phineas Paist and completed in 1928, is emblematic of the city’s policy to prevent the demolition of old buildings. But is it strong enough? 

In April 2019, an orange-colored Doosan excavator rumbled into the heart of Coral Gables and ripped open the side of a building that had stood on the corner of Le Jeune Road and Aragon Avenue for nearly 100 years.

The two-story structure had long been the home of LaSalle Cleaners, but before that housed the construction offices of city founder George Merrick. Yet in a 5-4 decision, the Coral Gables Historic Preservation Board decided the building was not worth saving, and within a few hours, it was gone. 

“The LaSalle property was a turning point,” says ardent preservationist Karelia Martinez Carbonell, president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables. “That was one of the most important buildings in Coral Gables, and it could not be saved. That’s when the community opened its eyes that patrimony could be lost, and officials and the board were clueless to the consequences of their decisions.” 

Whether the city’s vaunted commitment to historic preservation is at an inflection point – underscored by the LaSalle decision, among others – is now open for debate. Attorney and arts patron Mike Eidson also wanted to save that building and offered to buy it, starting with a $4 million offer. The owners turned him down. “That was a big loss, especially because of its location across from city hall,” he says. Restored, the LaSalle building could have been a candidate for the National Register of Historic Places, Eidson says. “We need to know where we came from,” he says. “We need to show our children. It’s about our legacy.” 

The legacy of Coral Gables is more than just architecture. The City Beautiful is regularly cited as among the nation’s most attractive and best places to live. Admirers point to its Mediterranean style, its coral rock flourishes, the city’s neighborhoods and schools, and the leafy charm of its lush tree canopy. Residents and visitors alike embrace the vision of Coral Gables that Merrick expressed when he planned the city in the 1920s: “Not a thing of the moment, of the year or even of the passing period, but a wonderful monument to the achievement of worthwhile perseverance in the creation of beauty and the bringing true of dreams that will solidly endure
as beautifully and bountifully age as does the everlasting coral upon which the master development is founded.” 

As a measure of just how adamant many of the Gables’ 51,000 residents are about preserving the founder’s vision, look no further than the contentious debate earlier this year over revisions to the zoning code, and the municipal elections in which every candidate for office pledged to hold the line against over-development. In his successful campaign for mayor, Vince Lago emphasized his opposition to any code changes that could open the flood gates to a high-rise take over, and waxed nostalgic over the Miracle Mile he remembered walking as a boy with his grandfather. “I was always fascinated with the beauty of Coral Gables, and that is something that has stuck with me, and will play a role in my decision-making,” says Lago. “We are moving forward, but the past has served us well. We need to make sure that historic preservation is one of our priorities.” 

Rhonda Anderson, elected to the commission in April, agrees that historic buildings account for “some of the uniqueness of our city and gives extra value.” Yet that does not mean every building can be saved. Anderson advocates repurposing some historic properties and cites as an example the plan by Mercedes-Benz of Coral Gables to remake as a showroom the 1970s Brutalist-style former police and fire station at 2801 Salzedo Street. “This serves two purposes. It preserves the architecture and the environment by reusing the building,” she says. 

Former Mayor Raúl Valdés-Fauli, Lago’s predecessor, sparred often with preservationists. He called the LaSalle building “ugly” and urged it to be torn down. Nonetheless, he bristles at any suggestion that during his most recent tenure of four years (he also served as mayor from 1993 to 2001) the city’s commitment to preservation waned. “There are two or three hysterical people who have propagated this theme, that we have lost interest [in historic preservation],” said Valdés-Fauli. “We have spent millions of dollars in historic preservation,” including funds earmarked for renovations of the 1927 city hall and the purchase of the studio of architect H. George Fink, built on Ponce de Leon Boulevard in 1925. 

From 2009-2019, for example, 86 requests for designation were brought to the historic preservation board; 80 were approved and
six were denied, according to the city. Yet there have been significant losses in recent years, says Carbonell, including the 1926 Mission Revival apartment building at 333 Catalonia Avenue, built to house artisans for the Gables crafts district. Scores of single-family homes have also been demolished in recent years, including many which might have qualified for designation, according to association re- search. “We are losing our historic integrity, one building at a time,” says Carbonell. 

A City Tradition 

The movement to preserve the heritage of Coral Gables began as far back as 1951, when the city – just 26 years old – bought the outdated Alhambra Water Tower to save it from demolition. In 1966 several local architects, along with a civic group known as The Villagers, teamed up to save the three-story Douglas Entrance, a privately-owned Spanish-style complex that was about to be knocked down and replaced by a Food Fair supermarket and parking lot. The site is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


In 1973, in response to growing concerns that more of the city’s iconic patrimony was imperiled, the commission adopted its first historic preservation ordinance. It was revised and expanded by the city commission in 1984 and made a part of the zoning code. This revised ordinance added further protections and established the Historic Preservation Board, a nine-member panel that votes up or down on designating properties as historic. To qualify as historic, a property “must be at least 50 years old, and possess architectural, aesthetic or historical value,” according to the city’s guide. The unpaid board members serve two-year terms, are appointed by the commissioners and the city manager, and include architects, historians and developers. 

Tensions between those who want to tear down and those who want to save are not new. Even the iconic 1926 Biltmore Hotel, vacant for years after its service as a hospital in World War II and an early site of the University of Miami’s medical campus, was nearly lost when a city manager proposed it be knocked down to make way for tennis and volleyball courts. 

“Florida is a place that likes to wipe the slate clean,” says Joanna Lombard, a professor of architecture at the University of Miami. “New people arrive, and each group tends to think they’re the first who got here. The tendency is to think that new is better. I fear that things are evaporating before our eyes.” 

It is not only the explosion of mega projects – the massive $600 million Plaza Coral Gables on Ponce de Leon Boulevard, for example, or the huge mid-rise apartment/retail/hotel complexes that line stretches of U.S. 1 – that have sparked controversy. Older houses are being bulldozed to make way for modernist sugar cube-style residences, usually painted white. 

“Most Gables residents are still committed to historic preservation, but there is a lot of pressure to take [out] these smaller houses and fill the lot with a big white box,” says Dolly MacIntyre, whose own history as a preservationist dates back to The Villagers’ founding more than 50 years ago. “It is so egregious, so foreign to what is here, so out of context. This is not good.” 

Looking for Balance 

The balance between preserving history and the rights of homeowners to do what they want with their own property can be delicate. Carbonell says she has heard people argue that both the LaSalle building and 333 Catalonia were not big losses because they were not attractive looking. “But that’s not what preservation is about,” she says. “It is not about what I or you think is pretty. You have to read the history.” 

Yet, for some, history can be a burden. Take, for instance, the current battle over the modest-looking ranch house at 1208 Asturia Avenue. Built in 1937, the four-bedroom house was designed by noted architect Russell Pancoast and is an early example of a custom designed ranch house that served as a prototype for many homes
to follow. Soon after it was purchased in 2018 by the prominent Valls family (owners of Versailles and La Carreta restaurants) for $875,000, the new owners moved to tear it down, later arguing
in court filings that “the house is unremarkable and unworthy of historic designation.” 

Since it was more than 50 years old, the city’s Historical Resources department reviewed the demolition request. The house “absolutely qualified” for designation, says Dona Spain, the department’s former director. A staff report found the ranch house marked a seminal modernist turn away from the predominate Mediterranean style of the Gables’ early years. 

But the Preservation Board, after hearing from the Historical Research department and from an architect who spoke on behalf
of the Valls family, narrowly voted to deny designation. Following that vote, a neighbor, Vicki Cerda, appealed the decision to the city commission, which twice failed to overturn it. Cerda then sued to stop the demolition, arguing in part that Valdés-Fauli influenced the board’s vote with emails and a letter in which he “advocated against preservation overkill,” according to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal. (Valdés-Fauli recused himself from the commission votes.) In June 2020 a Miami-Dade County court issued a stay on destroying the house, which is where the case currently rests. 

“This is not personal,” says Cerda, a Gables resident for 33 years. “I am not happy to be the face [of opposing demolition]. But I feel totally it is the right thing to do, because [preservation] is what Coral Gables has always stood for.” 

The Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables filed an amicus brief in support of Cerda’s lawsuit, appending several letters of support from prominent architects and preservationists. The house is “an excellent example of an early Traditional Custom Ranch House,” said Melissa Wyllie, CEO & President of the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, and “is part of the historic fabric that makes the City of Coral Gables unique.” 

Nick and Desiree Valls Lebess, owners of the Asturia Avenue house, could not disagree more. “The existing building is not a great work of architecture nor is it a historic landmark that needs to be preserved for posterity at our sole cost,” the couple told Coral Gables Magazine in a statement, adding that they were “shocked” when the Historical Resources department said that it should be saved. 

Also ensnared by history – or at least by the city’s interpretation of history – are Edmund Zaharewicz and his wife, Cecilia M. Danger. After the couple decided to tear down their 1940 house at 649 Palmarito Ct. to build bigger for their growing family, the Historic Preservation Board voted 8-0 to designate their home a “local historic landmark.” According to city staff, which recommended designation to the Board, the two-story house’s “Neoclassical style was amongst the homes that ushered the new architectural era into the city and set the trend for the post-war home-building boom.”

After the home was designated historic, Zaharewicz appealed the decision to the city commission, which unanimously backed
the preservation board. Zaharewicz, an attorney, has asked the 11th District Appeals Court to quash the commission vote and reverse the board’s decision. He says he feels “ambushed” by the designation. “The process is very unfair to homeowners. Totally arbitrary,” Zaharewicz says. 

Peggy Rolando, a member of the Historic Preservation Board who favored preserving both homes, thinks the board and the city need to educate residents about tax incentives and other benefits of designation. “What are the factors that make any historic property valuable?” asks Rolando. Citizens must understand “what needs to be preserved and how can you effectively modify a property to bring it into the 21st century,” she says. 

The owners of the houses on Palmarito Court and Asturia Avenue explored making changes and additions to meet the needs of their growing families. In each case, however, those modifications proved to be unfeasible and impractical. Those personal concerns, however, are not factors to be considered when designation is on the table. As Assistant City Attorney Gustavo Ceballos reminded the Preservation Board in March 2020 during a hearing on the Asturia Avenue house: “The fact that it is not financially feasible or that they’re not going to get an economic return or the fact that the property can be expanded or not, none of those are criteria…” 

What Now? 

So, how will preservation fare under a new city administration? One person to ask is Warren Adams, the city’s recently named director of Historical Resources and Cultural Arts. He grew up outside of Glasgow, Scotland, where houses built in the 12th century are still standing. By comparison, even the oldest structure in Coral Gables went up an eye-blink ago. 

Still, Adams says, “It’s all about context. If you protect these things now, perhaps they’ll be here in 400, 500 years. Preservation gives Coral Gables that very special atmosphere that you don’t get in other places. People come here to see that.” 

Like his predecessor Dona Spain, Adams believes the path to success in leading the historic preservation department is picking the right battles. “I am not here to save absolutely everything, or to recommend everything get demolished,” he says. “What I seek is balance.” The key to achieving that balance is identifying what is historic and significant while weighing the rights and concerns of property owners to get what they want, Adams says. He also wants to speed up the historic application process. “One thing we don’t want to do, by designating in some cases, is make a property unusable, unworkable, unsaleable,” Adams says. Nonetheless, he adds, “We will be sure to follow our ordinances.” 

In her 2015 biography of the Gables’ founder, George Merrick, Son of the South Wind, Arva Moore Parks applauded the founding of citizens groups such as the Historic Preservation Association and The Villagers, writing, “After forty years of effort by an enlightened public and the support of political leaders, Coral Gables’ past had become a vital part of its future.” 

The question now before Gables residents: Is that future secure?