Old Police and Fire Station Building cornerstone ceremony. Coral Gables, Florida, Coral Gables Public Safety 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 WPA), the building is one of two WPA buildings built in Coral Gables (see Coral Gables Woman’s Club). President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) created the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression of 1929-1941 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 fireman’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 (2327 Salzedo Street, Second Floor) and rents space to a non-profit organization called The Coral Gables Museum (285 Aragon Avenue) that opened in 2010.

Caption on verso: "Cornerstone ceremonies at Police & Fire Station, 285 Aragon Ave - 1937. Coral Gables Riding Academy Left behind tel. pole. MAartin Aronow photographer, 248 Giralda Ave. P.O. Box 62. Coral Gables, FLA. Phone: 444-6471. Picture number 7. Oct. 29 1974."

(Ownership) Coral Gables Historical Resources Department