Historic Coral Gables Gondola building on the Biltmore Hotel’s golf course collapses
.JPG "The historic Gondola building at Coral Gables’ Biltmore Hotel collapsed on Tuesday, Nov. 16.")
A 95-year old building on the Biltmore Hotel’s golf course partially collapsed Tuesday, according to a Coral Gables spokeswoman.
The Gondola Building was in need of serious restoration, according to a five-year capital improvement plan meant to start in 2019 and go through 2023. In 2019, the building was named as one of the 12 most endangered sites in Miami-Dade County by Dade Heritage Trust.
The building has been uninhabited for decades, city spokeswoman Martha Pantin wrote in a text, and needed an investment of more than $1.5 million to restore it.
In 2019, the city passed a resolution authorizing $500,000 to be used for a matching grant application to the Florida Department of State Division of Historical Resources to restore and rehabilitate the building.
“Unfortunately we have been unsuccessful in securing a matching grant from the State of Florida,” Pantin wrote. “We have secured the structure and are evaluating our path forward.”
According to meeting transcripts, Historic Preservation Officer Dona Spain said the building was once used to house the gondolas that took visitors from the Biltmore Hotel to Tahiti Beach, on the bayfront edge of Coral Gables.
According to the city’s documents related to its capital improvement plan, restoring the building “will increase the amount of visitors and will help them understand its original use and relevance within the concept of the Biltmore Hotel’s original 1926 visitor/guest experience.”
Much like the rest of Coral Gables’ historic buildings, the Gondola Building and the Biltmore Hotel were designed in a Mediterranean Revival style.
“The Gondola building stands as a true solitary witness of all the Biltmore’s development over the past 90+ years,” staff wrote.
Design and construction for a full restoration of the Gondola Building, which staff estimated would cost more than $670,000 over the five-year period, includes restoration of both interior and exterior walls and partitions, exterior ornamental details around the building, all windows, doors and floors and electrical and mechanical infrastructure. The plan also involves the rebuilding of the roof.
All the work must be done under the supervision of a historical conservator, according to the plan.
Karelia Martinez Carbonell, president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables, said the collapse “reinforces what we as preservationists are asking.”
She visited the property in August, she said, and noticed debris inside the structure. She said since the structure sits right on the golf course, the city is lucky no one was hurt or nearby when the collapse happened.
“It could have been a tragedy,” Martinez Carbonell said.
“The money that should be put into these structures is always hard to find. Of course there is money for other things,” she said. “This is what happens.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 9:05 PM.