The Sarasota School of Architecture…Not

Guest Commentary 
by Bob Garvin

It doesn’t have a campus, and it doesn’t grant degrees. The Sarasota School of Architecture is a self-referential group of young architects who gave themselves that name after all of them had designed and built modern schools, residences, and office buildings in Sarasota during the heady days following the end of World War II. Then, there was a world to be re-built, better and more attractive than the one their elders had made, and a huge pent-up demand for housing. There was enthusiasm and a willingness to use new materials and to try new ideas. We got mass-produced tract houses such as Levitown, and we also got the occasional inspired design from the young architects. In Sarasota we have a cluster of them; there is another in Los Angeles.

North Washington Drive

North Washington Drive

History gives us examples. Some thirty-five hundred years ago, Queen Hatshepshut (she was the one who sent an expedition to Ethiopia to bring back frankincense and myrrh) had a burial place built in Upper Egypt that is contemporary in today’s sense, stunning in its elegance and integrated design. A thousand years later, the Athenians built the Acropolis, equally in the latest austere contemporary style.

After another thousand years, a Roman emperor created the Pantheon, topped by a dramatic vast concrete dome, again in the latest style. None of these buildings referred to older designs, none pandered to any taste but that of the rich patron. Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome were the power centers around the periphery of the Mediterranean. It is in that same splendid architectural tradition that the Med-Rev (Mediterranean Revival) style dominates Sarasota’s new construction.

Regard the three examples shown here on St. Armands Key. All have been built "on spec" by ambitious developers expecting to appeal to a buyer with lots of money (cash if possible) who wants to live in an attractive neighborhood in a house that flaunts its owner’s wealth and refined taste. They are not in gated communities so the peasants are free to come to gape in awe.

North Adams Drive

Nor are there any design review limitations — the builders have been at liberty to pick whatever grandiose style they can imagine and to add whatever appliqués can be found at Home Depot to be glued onto the exterior — arches, fluted and twisted columns, canopies, and corbels. And there appear to be no deed restrictions, so that the three houses on St. Armands are totally out of scale with the older houses around them. (There are deed restrictions in Lido Shores).

In Japan, they say, the nail that sticks out is hammered down. In America we celebrate individual will. In Sarasota, we celebrate the desires of the market, and therefore the Med-Rev style. Opportunity beckons — none of these houses has yet found a buyer.

Editors note: Architectural style is, and always has been, in the eyes of the beholder. The debate between Sarasota School of Architecture enthusiasts versus Mediterranean Revival design promoters can be contentious at times. Both styles have their ardent supporters and rarely is there a gray area of overlapping interests. 

From time to time, our esteemed Editor Emeritus Bob Garvin weighs in on various topics of interest to Lido Shorians. Whichever side of the design debate you tend to favor, this was Mr. Garvin's unabashed take on two competing styles in our own backyard.

If you have an opinion or would like to contribute a column or story to Lido E-News, we'd like to print it. Just go to our website www.lido-shores.com to post a comment or lidoshores@gmail.com to send us a story. ~Bob Thill, Lido E-News Editor