Sarasota School of Architecture

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The Sarasota School of Architecture, sometimes called "Sarasota Modern," is a regional style of post-war architecture that emerged on Florida's Central West Coast. Many of the architects who pioneered this style became world renowned later in their careers, and several significant buildings remain in Sarasota, Florida today. This architecture played a key role in helping the community to define itself as a patron of arts.

Sarasota School of Architecture is characterized by its attention to climate and terrain. Large sunshades, innovative ventilation systems, oversized sliding glass doors, floating staircases, and walls of jalousie windows dominate many of these buildings, mostly built between 1941 and 1966.

Paul Rudolph, Ralph Twitchell, Victor Lundy, Tim Seibert, Jack West, Philip Hiss, Gene Leedy and Mark Hampton are the leading names of this particular regional style. Rudolph is arguably the biggest star, as the fanfare over the recent renovations of his Yale Art and Architecture Building attests to. However, within Sarasota he also designed a number of houses, schools, churches and public facilities. His Sanderling Beach Club is now on the National Register of Historic Places, and Riverview High School was recently nominated for the list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historical Sites.

Sarasota Modern buildings can best be seen in Lido Shores, where Rudolph's Umbrella House sits alongside other important Sarasota Modern houses in this once exclusively Sarasota School of Architecture subdivision. Sarasota High School and Riverview High School also feature Rudolph's buildings.

[edit] Sources

Howey, John. The Sarasota School of Architecture, 1941-1966. MIT Press, 1995.

Weaving, Andrew. Sarasota Modern. Rizzoli, 2006.

Szenasy, Susan. What We Value, Two Lessons in Historic Modernism: What Will We Learn From Them? Metropolis Magazine, November 2006. [1].