Stucco and cast stone mark the Sarasota Times Building at 1214–1216 1st Street. Feel the solidity of a three-story, asymmetrically-massed structure that announces itself in stucco and cast stone — the very materials picked by architect Dwight James Baum when he designed this Mediterranean Revival building in 1925 as the headquarters of the Sarasota Times. The paper itself traces its roots to 1899, and this building came to embody both that journalistic history and a high point in local architectural taste.
By November 1925 the construction firm Ricketts and Haworth had even begun work on the foundations, though they later ceased when the original plans were revised. Decades later, on March 22, 1984, this building’s significance was recognized with placement on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Baum’s design here was in keeping with other projects for the Broadway area — the Burns Realty Company, the El Vernona Hotel (later called John Ringling Towers and now demolished), and the El Vernona Apartment — tying this corner into a larger vision.
Notice the asymmetrically-massed stucco and cast stone façade Dwight James Baum designed for the Broadway area.