When Coral Gables’ city founder and developer George Merrick built his ‘master suburb’ he also commissioned notable architects to design seven themed villages within it, to encourage architectural variety within the city which was until then predominantly (and would continue to be) Mediterranean Revival in character. The styles of the villages spanned the globe, from multiple varieties of French to Chinese.
When Coral Gables’ city founder and developer George Merrick built his ‘master suburb’ he also commissioned notable architects to design seven themed villages within it, to encourage architectural variety within the city which was until then predominantly (and would continue to be) Mediterranean Revival in character. The styles of the villages spanned the globe, from multiple varieties of French to Chinese.
Houses in any of Coral Gables’ historic themed villages rarely go on the market, and when they do, like this gorgeous specimen at 534 Menendez Ave. in the Chinese Village and designed by architect Henry Killam Murphy in 1926 and listed for sale for $2.5 million on Saturday, they get snatched up fast, often for premium prices. (What is even rarer is for two of them to be on the market. A neighbor at 5129 Riviera Drive is listed for $1.795 million) The four bedroom, three bath house comes in at just under 3,000 square feet, and according to the broker’s remarks has “Architecture based on concepts of Chinese cosmology such as feng shui (geomancy) and Taoism, which teaches to embrace wonder and the joy of living gracefully with style.” We’re not sure if that’s an accurate definition of Taoism, but it is an accurate definition of the house.
