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. The building’s sculptural lines come from an architectural design by William Wesley Peters of Taliesin Associated Architects, who used seashells as inspiration, and its purple and lavender color scheme was suggested by Frank Lloyd Wright’s widow, Olgivanna Lloyd Wright.
The Henry C. Beck Company served as the general contractor. Behind the scenes, the Van Wezel Foundation was formed in 1987 to support the hall; in 2019 it changed its name to the Sarasota Performing Arts Center Foundation, Inc., continuing to support arts education initiatives and raising funds to construct a new performing arts center while still operating under the old 'Van Wezel' name. Notice the curved silhouette architect William Wesley Peters shaped like a seashell, and the purple hues Olgivanna Lloyd Wright chose for it.