Modern architects in 1950s Sarasota competed with each other for clients and commissions, but they all spoke the same design language.
They took “International Style” modernism from Europe and adapted it to the climate of subtropical Florida in the last decade before residential air-conditioning became affordable and accessible.
The famous Umbrella House, designed in 1953 by legendary architect Paul Rudolph, stands as a guidepost of Lido Shores' design standards at 1300 Westway Drive. Photo taken 7-12-2011 by Harold Bubil.
Their designs took advantage of natural breezes and light. The Umbrella House, designed in 1953 by Paul Rudolph and still standing in Lido Shores, is an ideal example. It faces north, with the narrow side walls facing east and west. This minimizes exposure to morning and late-afternoon sun.
The two-story center portion of the house, which has the living room and sunken conversation pit, has floor-to-ceiling jalousie windows on both the north and south walls. When open, breezes flow easily through the space. The south-facing wall of windows also allows winter sun into the living room to warm the space.
Other walls are made of wood, which has a low thermal mass and does not give off heat after the sun goes down. This was a way in which Sarasota school architects departed from the masonry construction that prevailed during the 1920s boom and in the subdivisions taking shape on the mainland in the postwar era.
Like the vernacular houses of the 1930s and before, the house is elevated off the ground, which allows for air circulation and helps protect it from insects and minor flooding.
From a design standpoint, it shows “clarity of concept” and “honest use of materials.” Unnecessary use of trim and other adornment is avoided. Not so much with the Umbrella House, but in other “Sarasota school” houses, the structure is visible so that it is apparent how the building is supported, and what the architect was trying to achieve.
The Pei Dormitories at New College were designed by the internationally famous architect I.M. Pei and completed in 1965. Pei went on to win a Pritzker Prize, architecture's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. The paint color of the band atop the wall is not original. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 9-30-2014.
Clarity of concept “refers to geometry. Clarity of geometrical concept,” Seibert said. “You have to think of it in three dimensions, and you have to think of it very clearly. When you look at the classics, look at some 15th- or 16th-century houses in Italy, you will find that their geometry is always very, very clear. There’s a lot of ornament on it, but the geometry is readily apparent. Scale, proportion and clear geometry. Is it a cube? How do these things relate to each other? How do they join, what are the shapes all about? That’s the way you have to think about it, and I think people always have thought about good architecture that way.”
“Walter Gropius used to say that you should be able to identify a building at a distance very easily with a simple shape or silhouette, and, as you come closer to the building, a lot of detail and spaces unfold and keep your interest,” Gene Leedy, a Winter Haven architect who worked here during the Sarasota School heyday, told the Herald-Tribune some years ago. “That was the clarity of the concept. What Rudolph (a student of Gropius) was trying to say was the concept was easily understood.”
The identity of the Umbrella House was a massive shading structure that stood over the house as well as the pool area. Partially destroyed by a tropical storm around 1968, the portion over the house was rebuilt by the current owners in 2010.
Known as The Cooney House, this house at 44 S. Washington Drive won a Test of Time award for Seibert Architects from the American Institute of Architects. It was built in 1965. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 6-17-2012.
On St. Armands Key, the Cooney House, built in 1966 by architect Tim Seibert, presents a completely different look from the Umbrella House, as it is a white masonry structure. But its east and west facades are narrow, presenting the south wall toward the winter sun, which warms a courtyard. And by the time it was built, air-conditioning had become more common. Clients also were beginning to ask for more impressive and durable structures.
“The simplicity of form required perfect detailing,” Seibert told the Herald-Tribune in 2013. “A successful flat-roof design requires clean flashing and perfectly straight gravel stops, and a way for the water to leave the roof without staining white walls. Both interior and exterior walls had to be perfectly fair and flat so that the spare geometry would have perfect shadows in the strong Florida light. ‘Less is more,’ but the ‘less’ must be flawlessly done.”
The Umbrella House and other midcentury modern houses in Lido Shores, as well as new homes in a variety of architectural styles, will be seen on walking tours during Sarasota MOD Weekend.
