Coral Gables was planned by George
Merrick beginning in 1921 - an offshoot of the resort land boom that had begun
in south Florida following World War I. Envisioning a stylistically integrated
community of "Mediterranean" houses and public buildings, Merrick
assembled a team of architects, artists and landscape architects which
included Denman Fink, Phineas Paist and Frank Button. They laid out a network
of winding streets and broad avenues, punctuated by Spanish or Italian inspired
gates, fountains and public buildings. In 1925, Merrick relinquished some
control over the suburb by deeding over 100 lots to the American Building
Corporation, investors based in Cincinnati, Ohio. This group intended to
construct a series of twenty period revival theme villages, using many of the
prevailing stylistic idioms favored by eclectic architects. Only six were
realized, the best being Marion Syms Wyeth's Dutch South African Village, Henry
Killam Murphy's Chinese Village, Phillip Lippincott Goodwin's French Provincial
Village, and Schmidt's French City Village, all built between 1925 and 1926.
Mott Schmidt teamed with the New Jersey developer and attorney Anderson
Fowler in building the French City Village on Hardie Road. Loosely following
the conventions used in the other developments -small villa-like houses with
walled yards and convenient garage entrances from the street-Schmidt designed
a semiurban enclave which anticipated the "townhouse" developments
of the 1970s. By varying the plan types, orientations and garden layouts, while
following a vaguely classical, eighteenth century French style, the architect
achieved both unity and diversity. Many of the motifs used in the houses appear
to derive from plates in Phillip Goodwin and Henry Milliken's 1924 book French
Provincial Architecture, a popular source for suburban
houses. The houses are sought after landmarks in Coral Gables and have been
augmented by additional "French" residences on the remaining part of
the block.
This area of the French 18th Century Village is bounded by and includes the following addresses: Caligula Avenue, Barbarossa Avenue, Maggiore Street and San Vicente Street. It includes: 541 Barbarossa Avenue, 508, 516, 530 Caligula Avenue, 500, 501, 508, 516, 517, 520, 524, 525, 528, 535, 536, 541 Hardee Road, and 6220 Maggiore Street.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Devoted Classicist: Villages of Coral Gables
George Merrick's Villages: Coral Gables, Florida