In 2023, Texas mogul paid $36 million for 11,000-sq-ft home; months later, the house was demolished

A multimillionaire property developer from Texas has demolished a historic waterfront mansion in Coral Gables, Florida, only months after buying the estate for $36 million. The demolition has sparked anger among local preservationists and architectural historians. Felix Sorkin, founder of the Houston-based manufacturing company General Technologies, bought the 11,000-square-foot property in mid-2023. Known as the Wood Residence, the estate was designed in 1963 by Alfred Browning Parker, one of South Florida’s best-known modernist architects. Despite efforts by local heritage advocates to save the landmark, bulldozers tore down the residence to make way for a large modern mansion, the Miami Herald reported. The loss of the home shows the growing conflict in South Florida between rising land prices and efforts to protect mid-century architectural history.Architectural legacy reduced to rubbleBuilt on a prime 1.2-acre lot along Biscayne Bay, the Wood Residence was widely seen as a fine example of organic architecture. Parker, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed the home with natural materials, including heart-pine woodwork, native stone walls and large glass panels. These featur...