A Thrilling Experience
THE experience of nearly everyone who passed through the storm might well be said to have been thrilling, but that of Dr. George W. Woollard, who was in charge of the Coral Gables office at Miami Beach, was one of the most exciting which has come to my attention. This office was located opposite the Roney Plaza, overlooking the ocean. It was known as the Salon Maritimo. The cost of interior decorations and fittings of this office was $155,000. As one might judge from this it was a very handsome office, and contained many rare pieces that had been imported, particularly to give it the Spanish setting which the Coral Gables Corporation affects. There were, for example, some very fine replicas of Spanish galleons, antique imported chairs, deer hide chairs, bronze urns, marble cornucopias, of which there were two at the inner vestibule standing over eight feet high; two huge candelabra from a Spanish medieval cathedral, and seventeen rugs that cost a thousand dollars each. At the main entrance was a bronze statue, in front of which was a sparkling fountain of mosaic-tile with green frogs spouting water, a similar circular fountain adorned the solarium, with Piping Pan spouting water from the lutes. The light effects were carried out by antique wrought lanterns around the ceiling of the promenade, high bronze urns three feet high, with bulbs in center at every column, colored spot lights playing on both fountains and the ceiling of the solarium, which was sky blue, bordered with blue bays, a canal being built up with pecky cypress in tropical colors, hiding row upon row of blue bulbs which threw their rays upon the ceiling. The inner columns were adorned with wrought iron candle sticks. This description, abbreviated as it must be, may be sufficient to give the reader some idea of the manner in which this office was furnished. Dr. Woollard is a veteran of the World War and served many months in the trenches, and he told me he had rather go through his war experience again rather than pass through his hurricane experience if he were forced to face the ordeal of going through one or the other and had his choice. I shall let Dr. Woollard relate his experience in his own words, as follows:
My private office contained two Japanese hand embroidered silk panels, Oriental chairs, bookcases, steel filing cabinets, desks, buffet, besides other furniture. The solarium also contained a new
