Sarasota Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

• Ringling College of Art and Design

  Picture Ludd Spivey and John Ringling agreeing in 1931 to found this school, known today as RCAD, beside the Ringling Art Museum. Imagine the ambition behind it: Ludd M. Spivey, then President of Southern College (now called Florida Southern College), envisioned a partnership with John Ringling, but Spivey learned Ringling had little interest in helping Southern College and was almost broke.

• 
  Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

  Your view here looks toward 777 North Tamiami Trail, where seashells inspired this hall's purple, sculptural curves. The 80,000-square-foot facility houses a main theater that contains 1,741 seats; at initial construction it was a 1,736-seat hall partly funded by a bequest from Lewis and Eugenia van Wezel, who donated $400,000 of the $2.5 million construction cost.

• 
  Sarasota Opera House

  A.B. Edwards, Sarasota's first mayor, imagined the Sarasota Opera House at 61 North Pineapple Avenue, which opened on April 10, 1926, as the Edwards Theatre. It opened on April 10, 1926, as the Edwards Theatre, a three-story landmark that originally housed eight shops on the ground floor, 12 offices on the second floor and 12 furnished apartments on the third.

• 
  El Vernona Hotel-John Ringling Hotel

  Developer Owen Burns built the El Vernona Hotel-John Ringling Hotel in 1926 at 111 North Tamiami Trail, naming it for his wife. Designed by Dwight James Baum and built in 1926 by developer Owen Burns, Burns named it after his wife.

• 
  Selby Public Library

  Sarasota County's first library opened here in 1907, and the Selby Public Library remains the largest in the county. This current building is the largest public library in the county and serves the downtown district of Sarasota.

All 26 stops

• Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall (Sarasota Bay)

  Your view here looks toward 777 North Tamiami Trail, where seashells inspired this hall's purple, sculptural curves.

• Sarasota Municipal Auditorium (Bayfront Park)

  Picture this Art Deco hall rising in 1938 at 801 Tamiami Trail North.

• Chidsey Library (North Tamiami Trail)

  Picture Sarasota's first public library opening its doors here in May 1941, at 701 North Tamiami Trail.

• Ringling College of Art and Design (Sarasota)

  Picture Ludd Spivey and John Ringling agreeing in 1931 to found this school, known today as RCAD, beside the Ringling Art Museum.

• Selby Public Library (downtown Sarasota)

  Sarasota County's first library opened here in 1907, and the Selby Public Library remains the largest in the county.

• Sarasota County Courthouse (Sarasota)

  Dwight James Baum designed the Sarasota County Courthouse in the Mediterranean Revival style, here in Sarasota, Florida.

• United States Post Office-Federal Building (Sarasota)

  One historic listing in Sarasota, Florida covers two buildings: the U.S. Post Office-Federal Building and the Social Security Building.

• Sarasota Opera House (Sarasota)

  A.B. Edwards, Sarasota's first mayor, imagined the Sarasota Opera House at 61 North Pineapple Avenue, which opened on April 10, 1926, as the Edwards Theatre.

• S. H. Kress and Co. Building (Sarasota)

  S. H. Kress and Co. once ran a five-and-dime department store at 1442 Main Street in Sarasota, Florida.

• Bacon and Tomlin Building (Sarasota)

  Bacon and Tomlin, Inc. ran their real estate and insurance office at 201 South Palm Avenue in Sarasota, Florida.

• DeMarcay Hotel (Sarasota)

  Mission Style lines shape the DeMarcay Hotel at 27 South Palm Avenue in Sarasota, Florida.

• Burns Court Historic District (Burns Square)

  Owen Burns developed and built the Burns Court Historic District in 1925, a pocket of Sarasota planned by architect Thomas Reed Martin.

• Art Center Sarasota (Sarasota)

  Marcia Rader gathered local art supporters in 1926 to found what is now Art Center Sarasota.

• Sarasota Woman's Club (Sarasota)

  Alice Guenther, the Sarasota Woman's Club's first president, gave a short speech at the ground-breaking of this Tudor Revival clubhouse at 1241 North Palm Avenue.

• El Vernona Hotel-John Ringling Hotel (Sarasota)

  Developer Owen Burns built the El Vernona Hotel-John Ringling Hotel in 1926 at 111 North Tamiami Trail, naming it for his wife.

• El Vernona Apartments-Broadway Apartments (Broadway)

  Twenty furnished apartments opened in March 1926 at the El Vernona Apartments-Broadway Apartments, 1133 Fourth Street, now called the Belle Haven.

• Roth Cigar Factory (Mira Mar)

  Brothers Edward and Michael Roth ran the Roth Cigar Factory at 30 Mira Mar Court.

• Worth's Block (Sarasota)

  Worth's Block, known today as the Gator Club, has held this corner at 1490 Main Street in Sarasota, Florida, since 1912.

• Crisp Building (Downtown Sarasota)

  Notice the office building at 1970 Main Street, right in the heart of downtown Sarasota, Florida.

• Scott Commercial Building (Sarasota)

  Clarence Scott commissioned the Scott Commercial Building in 1959 as a showroom at 261 South Orange Avenue.

• Sarasota Times Building (Broadway area)

  Stucco and cast stone mark the Sarasota Times Building at 1214-1216 1st Street.

• Rosemary Cemetery (Sarasota)

  Rosemary Cemetery sits on the northwest corner of the original plat of the town of Sarasota, the city's first public cemetery.

• Frank and Matilda Binz House (Sarasota)

  Built in 1926, the Frank and Matilda Binz House is a two-story Mediterranean Revival home at 5050 Bay Shore Road in Sarasota, Florida.

• Bryson-Crane House (Sapphire Shores)

  Walter Bryson lived in the Bryson-Crane House, a Spanish-style bungalow built here in 1926.

• J. G. Whitfield Estate (Sarasota)

  J. G. Whitfield Estate sits at 2704 Bayshore Drive in Sarasota, Florida.

• Dr. Joseph Halton House (Sarasota)

  Dr. Joseph Halton House is a historic home at 308 Cocoanut Avenue in Sarasota, Florida.

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