Coral Gables City Hall

This guide to Coral Gables City Hall traces the citywide celebration on November 10, 1927, when the mayor laid the cornerstone as Florida's land boom was already quietly collapsing. It follows George Merrick, the citrus farmer's son who built the city from scrubland, as he pushed ahead with one last grand civic statement, and his uncle Denman Fink's design for the curving coral-limestone facade and three-tiered clock tower. Inside the rotunda, Fink painted the four seasons as human figures.