Coral Gables
The Biltmore Hotel
George Merrick's 1926 Coral Gables landmark, a National Historic Landmark with the pool where Johnny Weissmuller was a lifeguard and a 1929 gangster ghost story.
- Built
- 1926built 1925–26 as a hotel (groundbreaking March 13, 1925; opened January 15, 1926)
- Style
- Mission/Spanish Revival (Mediterranean Revival)
- Architect
- Schultze & Weaver
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Rooms
- 271
- Credentials
- National Historic Landmark; Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
Developer George E. Merrick and hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman broke ground on March 13, 1925, and the Biltmore opened on January 15, 1926, designed by Schultze & Weaver. Gangster Thomas “Fatty” Walsh was shot dead in the hotel in 1929, and Johnny Weissmuller worked as a pool lifeguard in the 1920s. In 1942 it became an Army Air Forces hospital and remained a Veterans Administration hospital until 1968. The City of Coral Gables acquired it in 1973; after a city-led restoration it reopened in 1987, closed in 1990, and returned as a luxury hotel in the 1990s, managed by Seaway since about 1993. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996 and marked its centennial in 2026.
The ghost story
Guests and staff report that gangster Thomas "Fatty" Walsh, shot on the 13th floor in 1929, still lingers: the hotel's one original elevator is said to rise to the key-card-only 13th floor on its own, and the building's wartime years as a military hospital feed further ghost stories. The hotel's former official storyteller told these tales at weekly sessions.
Source: www.miaminewtimes.com
Good to know
- Parking: on-site paid
- Elevator
- Pets welcome
- Address: 1200 Anastasia Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33134
Sources (4)
- https://biltmorehotel.com/centennial/
- https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/72000306
- https://www.wlrn.org/light/history/2026-02-06/biltmore-hotel-celebrates-100-years-as-managers-look-to-evolution-and-future
- https://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts-culture/spooky-miami-biltmore-hotel-haunted-by-gangsters-and-wwii-soldiers-photo-6507396/
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.