- En savoir plus
- Les auteurs
- 23 x 28.5 cm
- 224 pages
- 200 black and white and color illustrations
- ISBN: 978-2-9092-8319-7
- Text in French and English
In 1921, a visionary entrepreneur, George E. Merrick, decided to build the most beautiful garden city in the world eight kilometers southwest of Miami, on the site of a family lemon plantation: Coral Gables, named for the coral stone used for the prominent gable of the Merricks' first house. Surrounded by a stone wall pierced by monumental gates, Coral Gables, with its trees, its shaded paths, its fountains, actually corresponds to the dream of its creator. The beauty and extravagance of the place is based on unforgettable monuments: the picturesque Venetian swimming pool from 1924, a mecca of social life where Esther Williams frolicked and where Johnny Weissmuller, alias Tarzan, made his debut as a master swimmer; the Biltmore Hotel with its tower inspired by the Giralda of Seville; the baroque churches supposed to recall the Californian Catholic missions intended to evangelize the Indian populations; and the unique network of canals which connect the city to Biscayne Bay, populated in the 1920s with authentic gondolas.