Coral Gables
Coral Gables was the First planned community in Florida started on the drawing-board of George Merrick.
His father Rev. Solomon Greasley Merrick, a Congregational Minister, in 1899 after he retired, bought a homestead of 160 acres unseen, and paid $1,100 for it.
Solomon and his 13-year-old son George were the first to arrive at the homestead and were disheartened to find a mostly un-cleared tract, with only scattered guava trees and a crude wooden cabin. But the two quickly went to work, preparing for the arrival of Mrs. Merrick and the other four children.
Aided by Bahamian workers, Reverend Merrick and George worked tirelessly, clearing the land of pine and palmetto and planting grapefruit and avocado trees. The family grew award-winning green beans, peppers, guava, tomatoes, eggplant, and okra and young George would take the vegetables by mule and cart to Miami, where he sold them.
In 1906, the groves began to bear fruit, and the family was able to ship the first carload of grapefruit out of Miami to the northern market. Prosperity allowed the Merricks to construct an extensive addition to their wooden cottage. Made of native coral rock and the Merrick family named their new home “Coral Gables,” and their growing grapefruit groves the “Coral Gables Plantation.
George entered New York Law School in 1908. However, his studies were cut short when his father Solomon became ill in 1909, compelling George to come home and help manage the plantation. Solomon Merrick died in 1911, leaving George in charge of the family and the business.
By 1920, Merrick had expanded his land holdings from 160 acres to 1,600 acres. Having been involved in promoting and selling at least 15 subdivisions in the Miami area, he had the land, expertise, and money to move forward with his plans for creating a city; his "City Beautiful". He assembled a team of architects, artists, and engineers.
As in all Miami, to build houses the terrain had to be drained, everywhere there was Everglades and water. The main channel was and still is the canal between Tahiti Beach in Cocoplum and the Biltmore Hotel.
By early 1921, Coral Gables was wholly mapped out on paper. The first lots were sold later that year.
By the time the city was incorporated on April 29, 1925, building permits had amounted to more than $25 million, and the assessed valuation was more than $90 million. As name of the city, he chose the name of his childhood house, “Coral Gables”.
The success of George Merrick’s development of Coral Gables can be attributed to the team of experts he brought together. Merrick’s uncle, Denman Fink, who was involved with the project since its inception served as Art Director did all the designs, master architect Phineas Paist carried them to completion. Landscape architect Frank Button is credited with laying out the grounds for the city’s winding drives, tree-lined boulevards and grand entrances.
Much of Coral Gables was built at an incredible speed between 1921 and 1926. At that time, what we know as Coral Gables High School was a tent city for construction workers building the city.
George got together with John McEntee Bowman from the Biltmore Hotel Group and built the Miami-Biltmore Hotel, designed by well-known New York architects Schultze and Weaver, formally opened on January 15, 1926.
The Congregational Church just across from the hotel was the first church in Coral Gables and was built on land, donated by George Merrick to honor his father.
Merrick also paid for the construction of Coral Gables Elementary School in 1924, and in 1925 the Land for the University of Miami was also given by him, a total of 160 acres and additional $5 MIO. Today the University is the largest employer with 3,027 Academic Staff, 10,500 people in Administration and 34,000 Students, and holds an endowment of $1.59 Billion.
Everything had to be built in Mediterranean architectural style, and every construction and every building had to be personally signed by George Merrick. Still today, every construction, every building change, even house colors must be permitted by the building department of the city.
There are many rules and regulations in the city. For example, it is not allowed to park a commercial vehicle overnight in front of your house, or it is not allowed to fix a car in your driveway.
That seems very strict, but that is the reason that Coral Gables is kept so beautiful and clean.
In 6 months in 1924 alone they built more than 600 houses, 62 miles of roads and sidewalks with 28 miles of street lighting. Additionally, 50,000 trees were planted.
For the residents of his “City Beautiful” he also built a public pool in mediterranean style he called Venetian Pool.
By October 1926, Coral Gables boasted more than 4,000 structures representing an investment of more than $150 million. Structures included 2,792 private homes and apartments, 112 office and commercial buildings, 11 schools, 10 public buildings, two hospital buildings, two university buildings, and six hotels. Already 100 miles of streets had been paved, and 125 miles of sidewalks had been built.
This success was also credited to the legendary world famous, high-energetic sales manager Edward E. "Doc" Dammers.
From the beginning it was planned that in the residential area of the city there would be no businesses and stores, but a separate business district 4 blocks wide and 1.5 miles long was planned. Center and main business street is Miracle mile. The City Hall is at the beginning of Miracle mile and in front of it is a statue of George Merrick.
George Merrick Main sales office was the Greek style building in front of the Colonnade Hotel, which is now a Morton Steakhouse.
Tragic happened in September 1926 when a terrible hurricane with winds up to 150 miles per hour hit Miami. It caused catastrophic damages accruing US$100 million and resulted in the end of Florida's land boom.
This, another Hurricane in 1928 and the Great Depression in the 1930’s George Merrick could not survive as many of his properties were heavily mortgaged and he had to declare bankruptcy.
He died young being only 56 years old, and his last years he was postmaster in the city he once had founded.
Today the city has 50,000 residents and many companies have their Headquarters in Coral Gables such as Bacardi, Capital Bank, Del Monte and MasTec.
Biltmore Hotel
In 1925, land developer and founder of the City of Coral Gables George E. Merrick joined forces with John McEntee Bowman founder and president of Bowman-Biltmore Hotels at the height of the Florida land boom to build "a great hotel which would not only serve as a hostelry to the crowds which were thronging to Coral Gables but also would serve as a center of sports and fashion.
In January 1926, after ten months of construction at a cost of $10 million, the hotel debuted with an inaugural that brought people down from northern cities on trains marked "Miami Biltmore Specials."
Visitors included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Ginger Rogers, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and welcomed Roosevelts and Vanderbilts as frequent guests.
Franklin D. Roosevelt had a temporary White House office set up at the Hotel when he vacationed in Miami.
Just months after the hotel opened, on September 18, the 1926 Miami Hurricane struck. While the hotel was undamaged, providing shelter for over 2,000 survivors, the disaster signaled the end of the Florida land boom.
Merrick's Coral Gables company declared bankruptcy on April 13, 1929, and Merrick's stake in the hotel was bought out by his partner, John McEntee Bowman in November 1929 for $2.1 million. Bowman resold the hotel in September 1931 to millionaire Henry Latham Doherty.
A large part of the hotel's revenue in the 1930s came from aquatic galas. As many as 3,000 people would come out to watch the synchronized swimmers, bathing beauties, and alligator wrestlers. Johnny Weissmuller, before he was known for his role in Tarzan and famous, was lifeguard at the Biltmore Pool and broke a swimming world record in the pool. An Attraction was also the Jackie Ott with his 30m jump into pool.
With the onset of World War II, the War Department took over the hotel, converting it into a 1,200-bed hospital in November 1942. The building was transferred to the Army in 1946 and renamed Pratt General Hospital. Many of the windows were sealed with concrete, and the marble floors covered with government-issue linoleum. The hospital was transferred from the Army to the Veterans Administration (VA) in July 1947. Also, the early site of The University of Miami's School of Medicine, Pratt General Hospital remained a VA hospital, with 450 beds, until a newer facility opened nearby in May 1968 and the building was vacated.
In 1973, through the Historic Monuments Act and Legacy of Parks program, the City of Coral Gables was granted ownership control. The building remained unoccupied for almost 10 years. Then in 1983, the city oversaw its full $55 MIO restoration to be opened as a grand hotel. It reopened on December 31, 1987, as a luxury hotel and resort.
In June 1992, a multinational consortium led by Seaway Hotels Corporation became the new operator of the hotel under a long-term management lease with the City of Coral Gables and again made extensive refurbishments to the property. New lighting and telephone systems, repairs to the pool, furnishings, a complete guestroom renovation program and spa were completed.
Biltmore Hotel has been used as a setting in various movies and television programs, including Bad Boys, The Specialist, Shock Waves, CSI: Miami, Popi, and Miami Vice.
The hotel has an 18-hole, par 71, championship course and annually hosts the Junior Orange Bowl International Golf Championship, and a 10-court Tennis Center. It offers a 12,000-square-foot full-service spa which is a member of the Leading Spas of the World.
At the Biltmore Hotel Culinary Academy, you can receive cooking lessons by famous chefs, and for additional Entertainment, Biltmore Hotel offers a Theater, the Gable Stage. Gable Stage has been at the cutting edge of theatre in South Florida and maintains a tradition of producing plays directly from successful Broadway runs. It received over 200 Carbonell Award nominations and 64 Carbonell Awards, a prestigious South Florida theatre award.
When Gangster Al Capone came to Miami in the beginning of 1928 he lived for almost 6 months in the tower suite, which are the top two floors at the 315 ft tall Hotel Tower. He lived there until he bought his 1922-built, waterfront villa at 93 Palm Avenue on Palm Island on August 20, 1928, for $40,000. Al Capone died at this mansion 1947 on syphilis.
Thomas “Fatty” Walsh a New York mobster and associate of Dutch Schultz and Lucky Luciano and associated with the Diamond Brothers Gang, was killed on March 7, 1929, during illicit gambling on the 14th floor. Legend claims his spirit haunts the hotel, specifically causing elevator malfunctions on the 13th floor.
Venetian Pool
The Venetian Pool, created from a 4-acre old limestone quarry which was utilized to cut out large amount of oolitic limestone (Oolite) for ornamental features, to build houses in the community and for city gates. The pool was built in 1921 by George Merrick as part of the development of Coral Gables, and designed in Mediterranean Revival style. Named for the Mediterranean city of Venice, Italy, the pool included a Venetian style bridge and classic mooring posts.
The Pool is up to 7ft (2,40m) deep and holds 820,000 US gallons Water and is the largest freshwater pool in the USA. There is no chlorine or other chemicals in the water, and the pool gets emptied every Monday, cleaned, and then refilled with fresh water from the Florida Aquifers.
Early in its history, the pool was regularly drained completely to permit the Miami Symphony to perform in it, taking advantage of the quarry's natural acoustic qualities. In 2001, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Coral Gables, the pool was once again drained for an orchestral performance.
A 1989 renovation restored many of the pool's original features, and the pool was renovated again in 2024.
Many Fashion pictures are shot at the pool, special for swim fashion.
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
Miami’s Botanical Garden is a 83 acre park with rare tropical plants and trees. It has 45,000 members and over 1,200 volunteers help to upkeep the park.
Funded and founded by Businessman Lawyer Robert H. Montgomery (1872–1953), who named the Park after his good friend the botanist David Fairchild, opened in 1938.
David Fairchild (1869–1954) was one of the greatest plant researchers of his time and a plant explorer for the United States Department of Agriculture. He traveled the world for new plants to be introduced into the U.S. He brought mangoes, alfalfa, nectarine, dates, bamboos, horseradish, kale, quinoa and avocados to the US. He also helped to introduce flowering cherry trees from Japan to Washington.