Coral Gables City Hall, facing you, is the civic centerpiece of one of the most ambitious planned communities in American history. George Merrick began developing Coral Gables in 1921, staking his family's citrus grove land on a vision of a complete Mediterranean-themed city with uniform architectural standards, named streets rather than numbered grids, and amenities — pools, hotels, country clubs — that would make it self-sufficient. The City Hall, completed in 1928 in a Spanish Renaissance style, was meant to signal permanence and civic dignity.
Merrick's timing was terrible: the 1926 hurricane collapsed the Florida land boom and wiped out his fortune. He died in 1942 as Miami's postmaster, his city incomplete and his personal wealth gone. But Coral Gables endured.
The architectural standards he established — Mediterranean Revival style enforced by strict zoning — were maintained through the Depression, the postwar boom, and into the present. The city today has some of the highest property values in Miami-Dade County. The tree-canopied streets, the limestone architecture, the Biltmore Hotel visible from Merrick's original promotional photographs — it all still exists.
It is either the best argument for planned communities or a gilded cage, depending on your politics.