raymor

My mom's neighborhood in Miami is changing. The small to medium size ranch homes on landscaped half-acre lots are being torn down or added on to at an alarming rate. I drove down to Miami to visit her for the holiday weekend and was very surprised to see the frame of a 5,000 sq foot castle (don't know what else to call it) added on to the original 800 sq foot Florida vernacular home that had been on the lot since 1947.

I'm reserving judgment on whatever it is that the owners are adding until they put in windows and doors, but I don't have a good feeling about it.

The small house with its lean-to roof was built by hand by Jim Merrick who bought 5 acres of land in this part of Miami-Dade County in 1945 for $2,500 back when it was considered so remote and wet that it would never be developed. He had to dig up coral rock to elevate the house since the summer rains would put standing water on the property for months at a time.

He sold off the land bit by bit as the suburbs arrived within 20 years.

The house was clean and kept cool because of all its windows. He never added air-conditioning to it. His remaining acre had a pond (where the coral rock was dug up to elevate the house), an orchid house and lots and lots of plants. It was a great place to explore as a kid.

His wife called me one summer morning in 1987 and told me that he had fallen. I went over there and could see that he must have had a heart attack. I called 911 and held his hand and told him he would be ok. He told me that I was a good kid and asked me to watch over his wife if anything happened. He died on the way to the hospital.

With land values topping $500,000 for a half-acre, I knew it was only a matter of time before this sort of thing would happen to his house.

Old Man Merrick's house is too dignified to sit next to the Castle. It should have been torn down. It hurts me to see it now.

BWH / 7-4-06