By Coral Gables Gazette staff
On Sunday evening, a lesser-known chapter of Coral Gables’ architectural story steps into the spotlight. From 1960 to 1980, the City Beautiful quietly absorbed a wave of Modernist design that challenged its Mediterranean Revival orthodoxy, reshaping streetscapes, civic buildings, and private spaces in ways that still provoke debate today. That period — long overshadowed by the city’s earlier romantic vision — is the focus of Coral Gables: The Moderns, a newly released, richly illustrated volume that will be presented Jan. 25 at Books & Books.
Authored by preservation advocate Karelia Martinez Carbonell and the late Bruce Fitzgerald, the book reframes the city’s Modernist moment not as an architectural detour, but as a defining evolution — one that reflected broader cultural shifts, changing tastes, and the pressures of growth in postwar South Florida.
Rethinking the City Beautiful
Coral Gables is most often associated with George Merrick’s Mediterranean Revival ideal: arched loggias, stucco façades and Spanish-tile roofs. But the decades following World War II introduced new priorities — efficiency, experimentation, and a desire to project progress. Architects responded with clean lines, concrete forms, expressive geometry, and materials that spoke to a modern, international vocabulary.
The Moderns argues that this era deserves the same thoughtful preservation conversation as the city’s earlier landmarks. Rather than positioning Modernism as a threat to Coral Gables’ identity, Carbonell and Fitzgerald present it as evidence of a living city adapting to its time.
The book documents residential, commercial, and civic structures built between 1960 and 1980, many of which residents pass daily without realizing their architectural significance. Through photography and historical context, the authors trace how these buildings shaped — and sometimes strained — the city’s visual coherence.
A book born of advocacy
The project reflects years of shared work by two figures deeply embedded in Coral Gables’ preservation community. Carbonell, president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables, has spent years broadening the definition of what is worth protecting, emphasizing continuity rather than nostalgia. Fitzgerald, who passed away before the book’s release, was a longtime collaborator and friend whose documentation and research underpin much of the work.
That partnership gives the book a tone that is neither academic nor nostalgic. Instead, it reads as a civic invitation: to look again, to reconsider assumptions, and to recognize architectural value before it disappears.
The timing is notable. As Coral Gables continues to wrestle with redevelopment, zoning pressures, and debates over historic designation, the question of how — and whether — Modernist structures should be preserved has become increasingly urgent.
An evening of context and conversation
Sunday’s event at Books & Books offers more than a traditional author talk. Carbonell’s presentation is expected to place the book within the broader arc of Coral Gables’ planning history, linking architecture to policy decisions, demographic change, and evolving civic priorities.
For longtime residents, the discussion may prompt reconsideration of buildings once dismissed as out of character. For newer arrivals, it provides a missing chapter — one that explains why the city looks the way it does today.
The event is free and open to the public, with RSVP recommended. It runs from 5 to 6:30 p.m., allowing ample time for discussion, questions, and book signing.
Why it matters now
Preservation debates often hinge on age and aesthetics. The Moderns complicates that formula, asking whether significance should instead be measured by impact, intention, and historical context. In doing so, it challenges Coral Gables to think more expansively about its architectural inheritance.
At a moment when the city is actively negotiating its future skyline, revisiting this mid-century period feels less like a history lesson and more like a guidepost.
