Doors Open: 5:30pm
Lecture Begins: 6:15pm 
Q & A: 7:15pm 
Cocktail Reception: 7:30pm – 8:30pm

1 AIA CES Learning Unit | Elective

The lecture is about the MYTH of Coral Gables, as created by Denman and George Fink (uncle and cousin of George Merrick).
The Mediterranean Revival was the creation in Florida of a mythical past that came from the imagination of a number of architects. These individuals, starting with Addison Mizner, manufactured a non-existent past out of a recreation of European models freely translated and re-interpreted. It was a continuation of a movement that had originally started in California evolving through the Mission Style and gradually evolving into a style that created a history and a tradition that is Mediterranean Revival. These architects (Willis Polk, AC Schweinfurth, and in particular Bertram Goodhue) took from Europe and from Latin American Baroque to create a tradition separated by hundreds of years from the actual Spanish Conquest.

The presentation will focus on the myths that were created through drawings by these architects, and in particular by the painter Denman Fink in Coral Gables.
Gelabert Navia will also feature his sketches of Coral Gables and his own “Grand Tour” of Italy and New Mexico.

by Bertram Goodhue, for the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego

by Denman Fink for the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables

Jose Gelabert-Navia

Jose A. Gelabert-Navia is a Professor and former Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Miami. A graduate of Cornell University, Jose has been part of the Faculty since 1981. His primary teaching focus has been in the areas of Architectural Design and History of Colonialism and Globalization in Architecture. He was the founder of the School’s Rome Program and as part of it, he teaches a course in Italian Culture every Spring. Prof. Gelabert-Navia has been the author of numerous articles and has also been a practicing architect, directing the Miami office of Perkins + Will. He has lectured in Europe and Latin America, most recently on the Sustainable Hospital in Brasilia and in Santiago, Chile this year.

Purchase Tickets

Lecture Series on Mediterranean Architecture

Oct 26, 2022 – Lecture: A Manual of Mediterranean Architecture for Coral Gables by Teófilo Victoria

Jan 18, 2022 – Symposium: Classical & Traditional Practice an Interview with Architects Working in Coral Gables with Maria de la Guardia, Luis Trelles, Jorge Hernandez & Callum Gibb 

Feb 8, 2023 – A Conversation: Traditional Architecture by Jose Gelabert Navia

Mar 8, 2023 – Lecture: Cultural Patrimony in Coral Gables & the Documentation and Restoration of the Fink Studio by Ricardo Lopez, Ana Alvarez & Frank Martinez

April 12, 2023 – Interview: An Interview with Each Other with Stefanos Polyzoides & Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk

May 10, 2023 – Open Forum : Debate and Discussion a question and answer session with panel and Rhonda Anderson, City Commissioner

Special thanks to our Lead Lecture Series Sponsor

Special Thanks To

The Florida Chapter would like to thank their sponsors

Patron’s Circle Sponsors

Cove Construction Group
Fernando Wong Outdoor Living Design
Flower Construction

Lead Lecture Series Sponsor

Tischler und Sohn (USA) Ltd.

Henry Flagler Donors

Belt
Fairfax & Sammon
Gil Walsh Interiors
Marmotech
Shoreline Building Group