Merrick’s Coral Gables Fantasies
Coral Gables, one of the country’s richest neighborhoods, is a separate city within Greater Miami, and feels it. Aptly described as the City Beautiful, its swanky homes line avenues shaded by giant banyans and oak, backing up to hidden canals. Regulations ensure that new buildings use the same architectural vocabulary advocated by George Merrick when he planned the community in the 1920s. Merrick’s taste sometimes ran to the Disneyesque, but undeniably he created a wonderland of a place that has not lost its aesthetic impact.
Merrick’s masterpiece has been refurbished and burnished to its original splendor, at a cost of more than $55 million. Built in 1926, it remains one of the most stunning hotels in the country. It served as a military hospital during World War II and was a veteran’s hospital until 1968. The 315-ft (96-m) near-replica of Seville’s Giralda Tower is a Coral Gables landmark.
The boast that this is the most beautiful swimming pool in the world is a fair one. Incorporating waterfalls and a cave, it was fashioned from a coral rock quarry in 1923 by Merrick’s associates, Denman Fink and Phineas Paist.
An entire block has been transformed into a walled Chinese enclave. The curved, glazed-tile roofs peek above the trees in vibrant colors, with Chinese red and yellow, and bamboo motifs pre-dominating.
Coral Gables’ first church, built by Merrick in the Spanish Baroque style, is actually a replica of a church in Costa Rica.
Northern Baroque frivolity meets hot-weather practicality. This charming collection of homes embodies the high-peaked façades and scrolls of typical Dutch architecture, along with the white stucco walls and red roofs associated with the Mediterranean. The style evolved as Boers adapted to African climes.
The most homogeneous of all the Villages at Coral Gables, this is all open timberwork, white stucco, and shake (cedar) roofs. Little alcoves and gardens here and there complete the picture-postcard look.
Seven mansions are built in various styles typical of the French countryside. Some have open timber, stone, red brick, and shake (cedar) roofs, others resemble the classic grange. One sports a marvelous turret.
Here you’ll find a series of nine graceful petits palais in the grand French style, looking almost as if a city block of Paris has been airlifted over. The most elaborate confection is on the north corner of Cellini and Hardee.
The typical country type of Italian villa, with its red tile roof and painted stucco walls. Many later constructions have carried on the theme, so the original Merrick creations are almost lost in the mix.
Imitations of the early plantation and colonial homes built by Florida’s first aristocrats. The style incorporates Neoclassical, columned porches with the stucco walls of tropical tradition.
Merrick’s dream was to build an American Venice. The massive project spawned the biggest real estate venture of the 1920s, costing around $100 million. The hurricane of 1926 then the Wall Street crash of 1929 left Merrick’s city incomplete and him destitute, but what remains of his vision is an enduring testament to his imagination.
