If you would like to have a conversational knowledge of Florida architecture, enough, say, to keep you from embarrassing yourself at cocktail parties or receptions, then the Center for Architecture Sarasota has a new website that may be of use.
The site is http://CFASRQ.org/BuildingADay, and it amounts to an Architecture 101 class for Sarasota modernism and other design landmarks around the state.
PHOTO GALLERY FOR YOUR PERUSAL
“It has been a wonderful academic exercise,” said Cindy Peterson, who has written much of the copy for the CFAS’ “A Building a Day” online series during its “Archtober” design festival, which concluded Friday.
“A Building a Day,” a collaboration of CFAS and the American Institute of Architects’ Gulf Coast chapter, features 31 buildings, starting with the Scott Building, CFAS’ headquarters building, designed in 1960 by Bill Rupp and Joe Farrell, and ending with drawings by children on Oct. 31.
The series features buildings by Paul Rudolph, Jack West, Tim Seibert, Carl Abbott, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Swiss team of Herzog & de Meuron, Arquitectonica, Rufus Nims, 19th-century giants Thomas Hastings and John Carrere, and current-day architects Guy Peterson and Michael Halflants, among others.
“It is amazing,” said Cindy Peterson, founder of CFAS. “We are getting responses from all over the state. People are forwarding them on via email. They are surprised and delighted every day.
“We did not realize how successful it would be. We will do it every year during our Archtober program.”
Joe King joined Cindy Peterson in writing the building descriptions.
It became a 4 a.m. ritual for the CFAS founder. “I learned something every day,” she said.
The first 10 buildings in the series are from Sarasota’s midcentury modern period, with the exception of Cá d’Zan (1925) and the Lido Casino (1940).
The next 15 are from around the state, such as the Tampa Museum of Art, Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College) in St. Augustine, the Fontainebleau Hotel and the Lincoln Road Parking Garage in Miami Beach, and the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.
The final six buildings in the series are contemporary structures in Sarasota.
“We started in Sarasota with historical buildings, then historical and modern buildings around Florida, and the final week we went back to Sarasota. We asked for submissions from local architects of their latest work,” said Peterson.
The project committee included members of CFAS and the AIA Florida Gulf Coast Chapter, including Lisa Hess and Lissette Calleja of the AIA.
Narratives and photos were compiled by the Center for Architecture Sarasota, except for the current architectural projects, which were submitted by the architectural firms whose work was selected by the committee.
“The value of the project is to engage our readers by providing educational, cultural and informational content on the built environment. There are many more projects throughout Florida to discover,” Peterson said.
The buildings:
Oct. 1 — The Scott Building, 265 S. Orange Ave., Sarasota, 1960, Joe Farrell and William Rupp, architects.
Oct. 2 — Cá d’Zan, Sarasota, 1925, Dwight James Baum, architect.
Oct. 3 — The Lido Casino, Sarasota, 1940, Ralph Twitchell, architect.
Oct. 4 — Healy Guest House (Cocoon House), Siesta Key, 1951, Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph, architects.
Oct. 5 — Umbrella House, 1953, Lido Shores, Paul Rudolph, architect.
Oct. 6 — Hiss Studio, Lido Shores, 1953, Edward J. Seibert, architect (1962 addition by Bert Brosmith).
Oct. 7 — Sarasota High School addition, 1958, Paul Rudolph, architect.
Oct. 8 — St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Sarasota, 1959, addition, 1970, Victor Lundy, architect.
Oct. 9 — Sarasota City Hall, 1966, Jack West, architect.
Oct. 10 — Nolen Plan (urban plan for City of Venice), 1925, John Nolen, landscape architect and city planner.
Oct. 11 — Tampa Bay Hotel (now University of Tampa), 1888, J.A. Wood, architect.
Oct. 12 — Tampa Museum of Art, 2010, Stanley Saitowitz, architect.
Oct. 13 — Annie Pfeiffer Chapel, Florida Southern College, Lakeland, 1938-41, Frank Lloyd Wright, architect.
Oct. 14 — Gene Leedy Architectural Office, Winter Haven, 1961, Gene Leedy, architect.
Oct. 15 — Hilltop House (The Thomas House), Brooksville, 1972, William Morgan, architect.
Oct. 16 — Silver Springs Tourist Center, Silver Springs, 1959, Victor Lundy, architect.
Oct. 17 — Spring House, Tallahassee, 1952, Frank Lloyd Wright, architect.
Oct. 18 — Milam House, Ponte Vedra Beach, 1958, Paul Rudolph, architect.
Oct. 19 — Hotel Ponce de León (now Flagler College), St. Augustine, 1888, John Carrère and Thomas Hastings, architects.
Oct. 20 — U.S. Courthouse, Fort Lauderdale, 1976-79, William Morgan, architect.
Oct. 21 — Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, 1954, Morris Lapidus, architect.
Oct. 22 — Royal Road House, Coconut Grove, 1953, Alfred Browning Parker, architect.
Oct. 23 — Adler Residence, Miami Beach, Rufus Nims, architect.
Oct. 24 — 1111 Lincoln Road (parking structure), Miami Beach, 2010, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, architects.
Oct. 25 — Walker Guest House, Sanibel Island, 1952, Paul Rudolph, architect.
Oct. 26 — Casa del Cielo, Siesta Key, 1982, Carl Abbott, architect.
Oct. 27 — Sarasota County Area Transit transfer station, Cattlemen Road, Sarasota, 2012, Architects Design Group and FleishmanGarcia Architects.
Oct. 28 — Solstice House, Whitfield Estates, 2008, Halflants + Pichette, architects.
Oct. 29 — Sarasota Herald-Tribune building, Sarasota, 2006, Arquitectonica (Bernardo Fort Brescia, Jenifer Briley, Robert Gallagher and Alfonso Jurado), architects.
Oct. 30 — Freund Residence, Siesta Key, Guy Peterson, architect.
Oct. 31 — Selected drawings by schoolchildren.
