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Serving Kendall, FL and surrounding areas. (786) 840-4946
BlueStreet Kendall Sunrooms & Patios installs solariums, custom sunrooms, and patio enclosures in Coral Gables, FL. We handle the full Board of Architects submission and City of Coral Gables permitting process, and we have experience working on the Mediterranean Revival homes that define this city. We reply within one business day.
Coral Gables homes, with their large lots and mature tree canopies, are natural candidates for a glass-walled solarium that brings the outdoor environment inside without the heat and humidity. A properly designed solarium on an older Mediterranean-style home integrates with the existing roofline and exterior materials so the addition reads as part of the original house. See our approach to solarium design and installation on our solarium installation page.
No two Coral Gables homes are exactly alike, and the city's design standards mean a stock sunroom configuration is unlikely to pass Board of Architects review without modifications. A custom design built around your home's specific roofline, exterior finish, and lot orientation gives you the best chance of a clean first-round approval - and a finished room that actually looks like it belongs on a house of this character.
Many Coral Gables homes have rear terraces or covered loggias that are exposed to the full force of South Florida's summer storms. Enclosing those spaces with glass or screen panels adds protected living area without altering the home's street-facing facade - a design approach the Coral Gables Board of Architects has historically found easier to approve than full additions on the front or sides of the house.
Coral Gables does not have a true off-season - temperatures stay warm year-round and humidity is high from spring through fall. A four-season room with insulated glass and HVAC integration is the only option that gives you genuinely comfortable use of that space in August and September, the hottest and most humid months of the year.
The large lots and mature oak and banyan trees in Coral Gables create a beautiful outdoor environment - and a steady supply of leaves, debris, and insects. A screen room lets you enjoy the shade and breeze from those trees without bringing the rest of the outdoor environment inside with you.
Coral Gables homes are among the most valuable in Florida, and many owners invest in additions that preserve the home's architectural character while adding livable square footage. A permitted sunroom addition on a Coral Gables home adds to the property's appraised value and, if done correctly, enhances the Mediterranean character that makes these homes distinctive.
Coral Gables was planned and built starting in the 1920s, and many of its homes are now 70 to 100 years old. That age means roof underlayment, stucco coatings, and wood trim have often been maintained piecemeal over the decades. When a homeowner wants to add a solarium or sunroom to a home of this age, the attachment points - where the new structure meets the existing exterior wall, roofline, or terrace slab - need to be assessed carefully before any framing starts. A new addition is only as good as its connection to the existing structure, and on a home this old, that connection deserves real attention.
Beyond the age of the homes, Coral Gables imposes its own layer of regulatory requirements. The city maintains a Board of Architects that must approve all exterior additions before the City of Coral Gables Building Department will issue a permit. That review process evaluates whether the proposed design is compatible with the home's Mediterranean Revival character - roofline, materials, exterior finish, and proportions. A contractor who does not know this process will either skip it (which leads to stop-work orders) or handle it incorrectly (which leads to redesign delays and wasted time). We build the Board submission into every Coral Gables project from the first site visit.
Our crew works throughout Coral Gables regularly, and we understand the local conditions that affect sunroom and enclosure work here. The city is defined by large lots with mature trees - oaks, banyans, and palms that have been growing for decades - wide, tree-lined streets, and homes with red barrel tile roofs and stucco exteriors that carry real architectural character. Working here is different from working in a newer subdivision. The lots give us room to stage materials, but the homes demand more careful design coordination than a tract house ever would.
Most Coral Gables homeowners use a few recognizable landmarks to describe where they live. The Biltmore Hotel, the 1926 landmark with its distinctive tower on Anastasia Avenue, sits in the heart of the city. Miracle Mile runs east-west through downtown as the main commercial strip. The Venetian Pool, carved from a coral rock quarry in 1923 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is another landmark that most residents can place immediately. We work on homes throughout the city, from the estates closer to Old Cutler Road to the smaller bungalows near the Miracle Mile area.
We also serve homeowners in nearby Miami and Hialeah, so if you are on the boundary between Coral Gables and either of those areas, we are regularly in your neighborhood.
Contact us by phone or through the online form and we will schedule a site visit within one business day. Coral Gables projects require a design review meeting before we can give you a number - the Board of Architects requirements affect what can be built on your specific property.
We visit your home, review the existing structure and lot, assess the stucco and roofline at any attachment point, and document the exterior features the Board of Architects will evaluate. Your written estimate includes Board submission costs, city permit fees, materials, construction, and a realistic timeline through the full approval process.
We prepare design drawings consistent with Coral Gables architectural standards and submit to the Board of Architects first. After Board approval, we file the city building permit application with all required documentation. We track both processes and keep you informed at every step.
Once the permit is issued, the crew handles all phases from prep through finish. City of Coral Gables inspectors review the work at required checkpoints and we are on-site for every one. You receive complete permit and Board approval documentation when the project is complete.
We handle the full Board of Architects submission and city permit process in Coral Gables - no shortcuts, no surprises. Contact us for a no-pressure site visit and written estimate.
(786) 840-4946Coral Gables is a planned city developed by George Merrick starting in the 1920s, built around a consistent Mediterranean Revival architectural theme that the city still enforces through design standards and a Board of Architects review process. About 50,000 residents live here, and the city has some of the highest home values in Florida - median prices well above $1 million - with most properties owner-occupied by long-term residents who take pride in maintaining the neighborhood character. The housing stock runs from original 1920s and 1930s bungalows through larger homes from the 1940s and 1950s, most of them stucco-over-masonry with red barrel tile roofs, arched openings, and mature landscaping that gives the streets a canopy effect unlike almost anywhere else in South Florida. For a full overview of the city's history, Wikipedia's Coral Gables article covers the founding, architecture, and community character in detail.
The city sits a few miles southwest of downtown Miami, fully surrounded by other Miami-Dade municipalities, including Miami to the north and east, South Miami to the north, and Kendall communities to the south and west. Coral Gables maintains its own police, fire, and building departments - separate from Miami and Miami-Dade County - which is why any addition here goes through city review rather than the county process used in unincorporated areas. Nearby areas served by our team include Miami and Westchester, both of which share similar climate conditions and some comparable housing profiles.
Most contractors in Coral Gables are not familiar with the Board of Architects review process and either skip it or treat it as the homeowner's problem. We prepare Board-ready design drawings as part of every project proposal - matching the home's existing Mediterranean character for roofline, finish, and materials - so the submission process moves forward without costly redesigns. City of Coral Gables Building Department.
Coral Gables homes built during the original development period have specific construction characteristics - clay tile roofs, stucco over masonry, arched openings, and thick walls - that determine how a new addition attaches and how it seals against rain. We work on these homes regularly and know what to look for before any construction starts.
Coral Gables receives about 60 inches of rain per year, with the heaviest storms arriving in short intense bursts. Solarium and sunroom glazing systems here need to be sloped, sealed, and framed to handle that load without leaking at the joints. Every glazing detail we specify is appropriate for South Florida's rainfall, not a system designed for a drier climate.
Despite having its own building department, Coral Gables follows Miami-Dade County's residential wind-load requirements, which are the most demanding in the continental United States. Every framing member, anchor, and glazing panel we install meets those standards - important in a city where hurricane season runs from June through November every year.
Coral Gables is a city where the design standards are real and the homes have genuine character worth protecting. We approach every project here with the same care the homeowners bring to their properties - getting the Board approval right the first time, designing additions that fit the existing architecture, and building to a standard that holds up through South Florida seasons for years to come.
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