Walter De Garmo
American architect
Walter C. De Garmo (1876–1951) was a prominent architect in Miami, Florida and its surrounding communities. His buildings include the Woman's Club of Coconut Grove and the 1907 Miami City Hall. He is known for his residential work in South Florida, especially large luxury residences in the Mission Revival and Mediterranean Revival styles.
Biography and career
De Garmo studied under John Russell Pope, and worked as an architect in New York before moving to Miami. He was the first registered architect in the Miami area. He held a degree in architecture from Cornell University. Marion Manley, Florida's first female architect, interned with De Garmo. He has been referred to as the "Dean of Miami architects."
The 1907 Miami City Hall designed by De Garmo was in use until 1928, when city functions were relocated to the newly built Dade County Courthouse, and the De Garmo building demolished. As of 1996, only two buildings by De Garmo remained in Miami Beach.
Coral Gables
The developer of Coral Gables, Florida, George E. Merrick, selected De Garmo as "one of the lead architects." In 1924, Degarmo joined with Denman Fink to design the Douglas Entrance in Coral Gables, which is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Walter De Garmo” is american architect. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Walter, Garmo and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american architect” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15998175. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1951, 1907 and 1928.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Walter De Garmo”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Walter De Garmo primary sources, Walter De Garmo archive and Walter research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Walter De Garmo”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Walter De Garmo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.