Old Police and Fire Station Building

Material Information

Scope and Content:: Old Police and Fire Station Building. Architect Phineas Paist designed the Coral Gables Public Safety Building, better known as the Old Police and Fire Station, in 1939, constructed by the Works Progress Administration, often referred to as the WPA. The building is one of two WPA buildings built in Coral Gables. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression to ease unemployment and stimulate the economy. WPA workers built the public safety building with local oolitic limestone, also known as coral rock. Artisans carved high-relief decorative ornamentation, such as a fisherman’s head on the Aragon side of the building. The Coral Gables Police and Fire Department moved into a new building in 1975. The city's Public Works Department was housed there until the rehabilitation of the building started in 2006, and the department moved to another facility. Major construction on the building started in 2008. It now houses the Historical Resources Department of the city at 2327 Salzedo Street, second floor, and rents space to a nonprofit organization called the Coral Gables Museum, 285 Aragon Avenue, that opened in 2010.
General Note:: Audio from the Coral Gables Virtual Tour describing the history of the Old Police and Fire Station Building.