Meandering Around Town #24: Walking Tour

An Adventure in Which a Former Mayor Continues to Seek the “Soul” of His Hometown

Left: The hearty group of walkers being greeted by Mayor Lago and Vice Mayor Anderson at City Hall beneath the ever-vigilant George Merrick.
Right: Tour group gathered in front of the H. George Fink Studio on Ponce with leaders Michael Maxwell and Belkys Perez.
Bottom: The gorgeous rotunda of the Colonnade Building where Sarah Artecona described the architectural features.

I have received some critical comments that some of my “rambles” are stationary site visitations which consist of very little physical “meandering.” Well, in response, as background for this installment, I donned my hiking shoes and strode around our fair city for several hours in the middle of a very hot and humid early summer day.

Let me explain. “Bike Walk Coral Gables” sponsors regularly schedule excursions around our community – usually on bicycles. But as the organization’s chairperson, Debbie Swain explains, “We are proudly celebrating Coral Gables’ centennial anniversary by focusing on the city’s 100-year history on all of our 2025 monthly educational tours. In May, instead of traveling by bicycle, we took a leisurely (but somewhat exhausting) walking tour, giving people a more intimate view of our city’s iconic historic features in the beautiful downtown business district.”

Earlier this year, Debbie “volunteered” me to lead the May edition of what could be termed a “forced march” loaded down with water and sunscreen. It turned out to be a wonderful day shared with an enthusiastic group of about 40 participants. We covered too much territory to recount all the sites we encountered, but there were many highlights.

To begin our adventure, we were greeted at the Coral Gables Museum by its director, Elvis Fuentes, who provided an overview of the building’s history and its conversion from a 1930s police/fire station to our own city museum. From there, professor Patrick Alexander, author of a recently published book entitled “Coral Gables – The First Hundred Years,” led the group along Salzedo Street, describing historic sites which included the 1920’s riding stables, the municipal bus station, the original Miami News building (now Café Demetrio), and the first City Hall (now the American Legion Post 98).

Next, we hustled south on Ponce to the 1925 H. George Fink Studio, which, in recent years, was saved from demolition by the city.

Waiting there to greet us was Michael Maxwell, Chair of the Coral Gables Historic Preservation Board. He gave us an overview of the building’s history and the impact that Fink had on the development of the City Beautiful. This beautiful example of George Merrick’s vision for a Mediterranean community is now headquarters for our city’s Economic Development Department, headed by Belkys Perez – who provided a guided tour of the interior spaces that have been restored to their original beauty.

We headed back to Miracle Mile to find Sarah Artecona, former vice president of the University of Miami, who offered a detailed history of the 1926 Colonnade Building, designed by Phineas Paist and Walter De Garmo to serve as Merrick’s original corporate sales office. As interesting as its historic roots was, the story of how it was saved from destruction by becoming part of the Colonnade Hotel project is even more fascinating.

Finally, the tiring group stumbled west along Miracle Mile to be greeted by Mayor Vince Lago and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson at our impressive 1928 City Hall. The building is undergoing a major renovation, but we were delighted to get a special behind-the- scenes tour by the leaders of our Commission. What a glorious way to celebrate the Coral Gables Centennial – but also exhausting!

This column appears monthly by Don Slesnick, who served as mayor of Coral Gables from 2001 to 2011. For suggestions on where he should next meander in search of the city’s soul, email to: donslesnick@scllp.com.