Historic Biltmore tiles were headed to landfill in 1974 until a student saved them

This story is about tiles. Beautiful, historic tiles rescued when a hard-working teen helped renovate the shuttered 1920s-era ballroom at the Biltmore Hotel.

His class wanted to celebrate senior prom there in 1974.

It’s also a story about connection, as reunion stories often are.

In June, the Coral Gables High School Class of 1974 celebrated their 50th reunion. In 1994, my mom, Bea Moss, wrote a story about the school’s 20th reunion for this column.

But to start at the beginning, the Miami Biltmore Hotel was constructed in 1926 by John McEntee Bowman and George Merrick as part of the Biltmore hotel chain. The architectural firm Schultze & Weaver designed it.

By 1974, the hotel was left unloved and unmaintained.

As my mom wrote in the Miami Herald, “Socially conscious Gables students of the ’70s helped restore the Biltmore Country Club building after it was left in disrepair when the Veterans Administration Hospital moved out in 1968.”

It was during that space renovation for the prom that volunteer Bob Dallas saw piles of “treasure amongst the trash,” said Karelia Martinez Carbonell, president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables, who worked to bring the historic tiles home to the Biltmore in time for the Gables High 50th reunion.

At the time, Dallas said he thought the tiles appeared to be destined for the landfill.

“It only takes a glance at the tiles to see their beauty and a few minutes of thought to understand their provenance connected to the stately Biltmore Hotel.

“With the tiles’ fate looming, I secured Borden milk crates and loaded them up for some unknown future. My hope was to display them in an indoor or outdoor setting. But like many ideas, they were set aside as more pressing events entered life.

“For over 50 years the tiles have been carted to garages basements, and occasional outdoor locations. The tiles’ temporary homes have included the cities of Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta. For the past 20 years and innumerable trips back home to Coral Gables, it has been my hope to reunite the tiles with the Biltmore Hotel,” said Dallas. His main challenges were their weight and bulk.

“Key Club president Chris Moore and the late Tom Pepper, who was Student Government president, were successful in getting the City of Coral Gables and Rotary Club leaders to allow students to spend time renovating the ballroom, all with student-led weekend volunteer help,” said Dallas.

“The Biltmore ballroom had been converted into small offices that had a ceiling height about half that of the ballroom itself. The job entailed knocking down the ceiling, walls and fixtures and carting them outside to be hauled away. Then came painting the walls and making the ballroom wood floor usable. Thankfully for the looming prom date, the work was timely completed.”

Their prom theme was “The Great Gatsby,” based on the 1974 film that had just been released. Almost everyone dressed the part.

“We hoped that if we could save this one part of the Biltmore then more people could see the unique character of this magnificent building, and new energy would be placed in the effort to same the whole property,” said alum Moore.

My mom, who died in 2010, was so proud to write about the teens and their quest to save history.

“They cleaned up the old building from floor to ceiling, breathing dirt for a whole year,” she wrote in 1994. “More than 200 students spent almost 16,000 hours over nearly a year. Some students had grandparents that were founding members of the Biltmore Country Club. Some help came from professionals, but the students did most of the demolition work, the plastering and the painting.”

Victoria Strauss Nunez, Class of ’74, who helped with the renovations, said that soon after the prom, her mother, who was a founding member of the city’s Historic Preservation Board, and others promoted the renovation and reopening of the Biltmore.

And Moore, the 1974 Key Club president, said “It was Tom Pepper’s vision that started the project and it was his ability to carry through on that vision with the many parties that were necessary to complete the renovation on time. However, it was up to the members of the four CGHS service clubs to make this project happen.

“I can’t say enough good things about my fellow students and friends that were willing to give up their free time in order to put in hard labor in an un-air conditioned relic for no compensation.”

“The Coral Gables Commission Minutes, dated July 1973, officially gave the students the opportunity to work on the renovations at the Biltmore. I believe this approval predates any other effort to save the Biltmore,” said Moore. “Cost concerns and Highest and Best Use issues were leaning toward demolition. Movements to save historic properties were in their early stages.”

Modeled after a Spanish castle, the sprawling Biltmore was the first building that went up in Coral Gables and, at that time, the tallest one in Florida. Its distinct tower was modeled after the Giralda in Seville. Its ceilings and walls bore Moorish frescoes and Spanish tiles lined the terraces.

“The tiles, salvaged from the Biltmore ballroom, were patterned from the 16th century tiles of the outer structural panels of the Arbor of Charles V, in the Alcazar of Seville. They were crafted using a technique known as Mudéjar art,” said Martinez Carbonell.

“Dallas was wise beyond his years. He rescued the tiles and kept them safe for 50 years,” she said.

“The precocious teen, who saw the historical significance of the Biltmore tiles, took the initiative to save them, keep them, steward them, and today, return them. If not for him and his appreciation for beauty, there would be no story to tell.”

In 1986, the Miami Biltmore Hotel was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Write to ChristinaMMayo@gmail.com with news for this column.