"I am a caretaker," says homeowner Pat Taylor, seen here in the living room of her home of 38 years at 2704 Bay Shore Road in Sarasota. The Whitfield-Taylor house is featured on the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation's 2013 Historic Homes Tour on March 3, 2013. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 2-20-2013,
Pat Taylor remembers the first time she saw it. The three arched windows, the elegant proportions and symmetry, the original barrel-tile roof — all shimmering in the sunlight.
It was 1976, and the house at 2704 Bay Shore Road in Sarasota was 51 years old, built during the Florida land boom by J.G. Whitfield, whose brother, L.B., developed Whitfield Estates. A newcomer to Sarasota, Pat Taylor was exploring with her two young children on their bicycles and headed to Indian Beach.
"When we got to this house, I still remember it, my heart literally stopped beating," said Taylor, her native South Carolina accent dripping with charm. "I got up on my bike across the street and I just stood there and looked at this house, and I said, 'God, I hope someday you will let me own this house.'
"Two years later my Realtor called and said, 'You know that 'love house' you have picked out? It is on the market, but there are two offers on it already.'" (FOR A PHOTO GALLERY TO ACCOMPANY THIS STORY, CLICK HERE.)
Promptly, Pat and John Taylor met the real estate agent at the house. "We wrote an offer on the hood of her car," Pat Taylor recalls. "And she said, 'John, this offer is not enough. It is going to go for more than that.' But at that moment, my faith was so strong, and I said, 'You know what? That house is mine, Phyllis.'"
Indeed it was. The owner was on a cruise, but she had given her lawyer power of attorney. "So we went in and talked to him," Taylor recalls, "and my Realtor called me the next afternoon and said, 'I am about to faint on the floor. Your offer was the lowest offer, and do you know what? You've got that house.' I said, 'Oh, I knew I was going to get it.' I am a woman of very strong faith."
The offer accepted by Charles Jr. and Althea Black was $135,000, the sale closed on May 1, 1978, and the Taylor family became the third to inhabit the house. (Charles Black Sr., an oil company executive, bought the house from the Whitfield family. Whitfield died in the house in 1943.)
"It's worth a bit more than that now," said Taylor. "But it's not worth as much as it means to me, though."
The Keating Center, built in 1926 as the Bay Haven Hotel, is among the buildings featured on the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservations' 2013 Historic Homes Tour on March 3, 2013., in Sarasota's Indian Beach Neighborhood. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 2-2-2013.
In Pat Taylor's 38 years of residence, the Whitfield-Taylor house has been featured on a half-dozen home tours, and No. 7 is noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 3. The Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation's 23rd annual Historic Homes Tour will stop at 2704 Bay Shore, and include four other homes and two historic school buildings in the venerable Indian Beach area of Sarasota.
Homes on the tour include the Day Home at 3007 Bay Shore Road, the Lynch Home at 2324 Hickory Ave., the Tuerpe Home at 2325 Hickory Ave. and the McCall-Ball Home at 2445 Alameda Ave.
Also on the tour are two school buildings: Bay Haven School, designed by M. Leo Elliott in 1925, and the Keating Building, built as a hotel in the 1920s, on the campus of the Ringling College of Art and Design.
Tourgoers will learn the history of each home, while enjoying a self-guided tour through the Indian Beach neighborhood.
An upstairs sitting room in the Whitfield-Taylor House, which is featured on the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation's 2013 Historic Homes Tour on March 3, 2013. The house, at 2704 Bay Shore Road in Sarasota, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 2-20-2013,
Free parking will be available at the Ringling College of Art and Design lot near the corner of U.S. 41 and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., behind the sculpture garden. A free guided trolley tour will depart from the Ringling College parking lot, featuring Lorrie Muldowney of the Sarasota County History Center. Information: historicsarasota.org.
Built by Russell Currin, a noted builder of the 1920s boom period, the Whitfield-Taylor House was selected by the Herald-Tribune as the area's "prettiest house" in 2011.
"The home's construction matches the Ringling architecture that is so much a part of Sarasota," said reader Matthew Cracchiola in nominating the house for the honor. "The interior consists of hardwood floors, and the classic Ringling style and décor."
The house has classic Mediterranean-style features — extensive wrought-iron details, most of the original fenestration and extensive bas relief.
Ron McCarty, curator of Cà d'Zan, the John and Mable Ringling mansion in Sarasota, said the house may have been designed by Cà d'Zan's architect, Dwight James Baum, or it may have been done by Sarasota's most prolific and influential architect of the pre-war era, Thomas Reed Martin. But McCarty said there is no paperwork to support either assertion.
The living room of the Whitfield-Taylor House, which is featured on the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation's 2013 Historic Homes Tour on March 3, 2013. The house, at 2704 Bay Shore Road in Sarasota, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 2-20-2013,
"There are many features that are similar to Cà d'Zan," said Taylor. "It certainly has the charm of Cà d'Zan.
But not the size. At 4,000 square feet, it is more than 30,000 square feet smaller.
Taylor said the most interesting feature of the house was a copper roof over a porch that reflected sunlight "like a copper penny after a dozen coats of paint were removed." The roof, she says, is original, although broken tiles have been replaced by some found in Boca Raton.
"I have a third-generation roofer who has taken care of my roof for the 38 years I have lived here," said Taylor. "Ten years ago, he said, 'I can't patch it anymore; you are going to have to replace it.' He went all over looking for tiles, and found some in Boca Raton." But he couldn't find enough.
"I said, 'What if we took the tiles off in sections and put down underlayment and then cleaned the tiles and put them back on?' He said, 'It's just money.' So that is what we did," said Taylor.
As the house is historically designated, Taylor makes sure that every fix or improvement she makes to the house is approved by the history experts.
"We have done no restorations, except to cut through the fireplace and install gas logs. The floors are original. The tiles are the original tiles. The bathrooms are original.
"I have had good fortune with this house, and it has required very few replacements. Everybody who has lived in this house has maintained it with nothing but love and dedication. I am just a caretaker now."
Northern transplants will recognize this room: It's a basement, one of the few in this part of Florida, and it is in the Whitfield-Taylor House, which is featured on the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation's 2013 Historic Homes Tour on March 3, 2013. The house, at 2704 Bay Shore Road in Sarasota, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 2-20-2013,
Other buildings on the tour:
-3007 Bay Shore Road, owned by Art Day. This Colonial Revival style home, built in 1940, has architecture that echoes the New England "salt box" style. The wood-shingle home with gabled roof retains many of its original features, including tile floors in the kitchen and baths, lighting fixtures, cabinetry, oak hardwood floors and the main foyer stairwell and chandelier.
-2324 Hickory Ave., the Lynch Home, owned by Amber Gracey. This 1925 bungalow has a low-pitched gable roof with exposed rafter ends, massive brick pier supports and a knee wall. The porch entry leads to the original door that opens to an expansive living and dining room. The home's windows, trim and moldings are all original.
-2325 Hickory Ave., owned by Egon and Urte Tuerpe. This Mediterranean revival home is tucked behind a wall that leads you into a pool entry and expansive garden. The property was once part of the Whitaker property, known as "The Palms." By the 1920s the property was renamed Sarasota Bay Park Subdivision. The current owners built an addition of 1,200 square feet for a cook's kitchen, dining room and master suite on the ground floor.
The kitchen was reconfigured from the original dining room and living room and a new dining room. A master suite was added to the south wing, forming a courtyard around the pool.
-2445 Alameda Ave., McCall-Ball Home, owned by Pat and Judy Ball
In the late 1920s, Benjamin F. McCall began construction of this home in the Sarasota Bay Park Subdivision. Its style is best described as American foursquare. McCall, together with William and J.C. Calhoun, operated Calhoun & McCall, one of Sarasota's first dry goods, notions and grocery stores on east Main Street.
McCall later worked in real estate, developing the Palm Apartments on Second Street near the Tamiami Trail. The current owners have restored the house, including each window. Pat Ball is one of the region's leading contractors that specialize in restoring historic houses.
-2700 N. Tamiami Trail, the Keating Center, owned by Ringling College. Built in 1926 as the Bay Haven Hotel, this structure provided luxury accommodations for winter visitors to the upper-scale subdivision of Indian Beach. It was built by J.G. Whitfield, first owner of the Whitfield-Taylor House, who also served as a city commissioner from 1920-31. The building now serves as the main administration building for the Ringling College of Art and Design.
-Bay Haven Elementary School. This 1926 building is one of two elementary schools built in Sarasota from identical plans to accommodate population growth resulting from the 1920s real estate boom. Bay Haven and Southside Elementary were designed by architect M. Leo Elliott, a New York-trained practitioner with offices in Sarasota, Tampa, Orlando and St. Petersburg.
Both schools reflect the Mediterranean-revival style, and their locations north and south of the city center reflect the advice of nationally renowned land planner John Nolen, who recommended two schools in the outlying residential areas.
Designed for 600 students, Bay Haven School opened in 1926. In 1957, Bay Haven established the county's first staffed, in-house elementary school library.
In 1962, Bay Haven became the first integrated county elementary school and enrolled 29 black students.
The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and was dedicated in 1995 by the Sarasota County Historical Commission.
