Sarasota School of Architecture

Riverview High School (Sarasota, Florida)

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.

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, Bert Brosmith, Ralph Twitchell, William Rupp, Victor Lundy, Tim Seibert, Jack West, Philip Hiss, Gene Leedy, Carl Abbott 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 nominated for the list of America's Most Endangered Places, although the high school has since been demolished.

Sarasota Modern buildings can best be seen on the island of Lido Key, where Rudolph's Umbrella House sits alongside other important Sarasota Modern houses in this once exclusively Sarasota School of Architecture subdivision. The group's designs also include Jack West's Sarasota City Hall and in a number of older neighborhoods. An expansion of Sarasota High School featured Rudolph's designed buildings.

Sources

• Bettendorf, Elizabeth. "Tour Lets You Drive on the Modern Side." St. Petersburg Times, Fla., June 1, 2007.
• Howey, John. The Sarasota School of Architecture, 1941-1966. MIT Press, 1995.
• Szenasy, Susan. What We Value, Two Lessons in Historic Modernism: What Will We Learn From Them? Metropolis Magazine, November 2006. [1].
• Weaving, Andrew. Sarasota Modern. Rizzoli, 2006.

Further reading

• Hochstim, Jan. "Florida Modern." Rizzoli International Publications, 2005.
• Howey, John. "The Sarasota School of Architecture." The MIT Press, 1995.
• Weaving, Andrew. Sarasota Modern. Rizzoli, 2006.

External links

• Central Florida Modern
• Paul Rudolph photo pool at flickr
• The Paul Rudolph Foundation
• Riverview High: From Rudolph to rubble - HeraldTribune.com, June 14, 2009