PHOTO GALLERY: See more photos of the Zingmonds' treehouse
Dori and Alan Zingmond lived for 15 years in a spacious loft in Tribeca in lower Manhattan, near the sportswear company that Alan owned, and the boutique where Dori created and sold designer clothing. It was their ideal urban lifestyle. But after the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001, they began to rethink everything, and eventually decided to move to Florida and realize their dream of living on the beach.
Homeowners Dori and Alan Zingmond on the wrap-around porch of their urban treehouse in Sarasota. They were looking for something private and unique and found it in this home designed by architect Richard Allen in 1997. STAFF PHOTO / NICK ADAMS
They bought a home on Manasota Key and gave the barrier-island lifestyle a try for a decade. “But it wasn’t us,” admitted Alan. “Every cultural and social thing we did was in Sarasota, right down to Dori’s yoga classes, so we were driving off the island all the time. I didn’t like the wind, the sand everywhere, and I got tired of the isolation and inconvenience. We both missed a city experience, and we both really missed our loft.”
So the Zingmonds went on the search for something loft-like in Sarasota that would satisfy a lot of mandates. “We didn’t want a gated community,” said Dori. “I wanted something more relaxed and less cookie-cutter. But we did want privacy. No golf course or tennis courts, no high-rise condominiums or villa ones, either. We wanted a single-family home, close to downtown and near good schools for our son, Cooper, that offered the maximum amount of privacy. And, it had to be an open, loft-like space.”
Just about the time they were ready to give up and make some compromises after a long and exhaustive search, Dori found a private road with just three houses on it. It was five minutes from downtown and just about three blocks off a main street, which linked all the areas of town that her family needed for convenient city living. The house at the end of the road, a 3,000-square-foot, two-story wood structure, reminded Dori of a treehouse, and it was for sale.
A view from the gallery down into the main living area which is open-concept. The homeowners had lived in a loft in Tribeca in lower Manhattan and wanted a similar floor plan when they went house hunting in Sarasota. Four support beams in the house are untreated telephone poles that architect Richard Allen hand selected in Tampa. He intentionally left the nuts and bolts showing as part of the rustic-organic design. STAFF PHOTO / NICK ADAMS
“Most of the front of the house was covered by a tropical jungle,” said Dori. “I couldn’t see much, but what I could see I fell in love with. I called our Realtor and we bought the house the next day. The main part of the inside was a loft, the outside was a treehouse, and the whole property was so secluded that I knew our friends would get lost coming here the first time. Yet, it’s right in the heart of the city. We had found what, I thought, didn’t exist. And it came with a swimming pool and a beautiful pond.”
The three houses were built by Sarasota-based architect Richard Allen in the late 1990s. He designed one for his daughter, one for his son and one for himself and his wife that they moved into in 1997. They remained for a decade. His daughter has since moved on, but his son and family still live in the middle house.
“I designed these houses to be completely compatible with the Florida climate and this specific terrain,” said Allen. “I employed many of the principles of an Old Florida Cracker house — metal roof, broad overhangs, windows and doors situated for air flow, wrap-around porch and high ceilings. The house is built high off the ground, and it’s made mostly of cedar. The area was a jungle when I bought it, but I cleared enough for a private shell road and for the houses.”
Each home is so thickly fringed with trees and vines that each virtually hidden from one another. Allen also added a large pond at the front of his own house.
“It’s as much to address environmental concerns as for the aesthetics,” said the architect. “When the city developed Arlington Park, the construction
created a swampy area on this property. I put in a natural drainage system that takes away excess water so there’s no flooding or standing water on the property. And the rock-lined pond is a nice landscape feature, besides being functional.”
Allen said his trio of cedar homes are “pure Florida — the right design and materials for the site, the climate and the local natural environment.”
Inside his own home, he installed maple floors and went with an open-concept floor plan. The kitchen, living room (with its raised-hearth gas fireplace), and dining room are one space. There’s a spiral staircase that goes up to an open gallery/studio, and, above that, the ceiling stretches to an arrangement of clerestory windows that can be opened to the natural light and air.
“They also close automatically when it rains,” said the architect. “And there is nothing so peaceful and pleasant as listening to the rain on the metal roof of this house. I also included a library because I love books and wanted a big separate room for them. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.”
The interior and exterior doors from Mexico are hand-carved; each is different. And there’s a general design attitude that celebrates rustic and organic. Four support beams in the house are telephone poles. “They’re untreated pine,” said Allen, “and I went to Tampa to pick out each one. The brackets and bolts are intentionally exposed, as is the ductwork in the house.”
It was the library that sealed the deal for Dori and Alan. They had found a loft and a separate library, too. When the Zingmonds moved in, Dori furnished the library with the couple’s books and travel artifacts. And she included some mementos of her New York fashion days, such as an antique French mirror that was in her atelier and a pair of richly ornamented Moroccan water-barrel chairs that she purchased while on vacation. Indonesian shadow puppets and objects that relate to the fashion industry share space on the library shelves with books, mostly about art and design.
The Zingmonds did not make structural changes in the house, but they did convert a large media room into a bedroom for their son, and they carved out some space for his private bathroom. That bedroom, like almost every room in the home, opens to a treetop, wrap-around screened porch. The Zingmonds painted, had the floors refreshed, updated the kitchen appliances, added new lighting and put up some half-walls in the master bedroom.
The furnishings reflect the couple’s admiration for midcentury modern pieces and Dori’s attraction to animal-skin prints. A George Nelson slat bench, driftwood lamp and a 1950s sleek daybed covered in a zebra stripe are from Dori’s family home. Other pieces they found locally at Mission Avenue Studio and at Sarasota Collection Home Store. The dining room chandelier was a find at RH. The art work came with them from New York.
Dori collects dress-maker mannequins and uses some of them for fashion projects. For the past five years, she has volunteered at Safe Place & Rape Crisis Center (SPARCC) in Sarasota, where she coordinates the non-profit’s annual fashion show.
The naturalistic outdoor area is a continuing project that the Zingmonds have happily turned over to Steve Nielsen of Critter Ridge Landscape Contractors. “We’re basically city people,” said Alan. “I want to encourage the natural look of this wonderful property and pond, but I’m not kidding myself about being able to manage it. I’m glad to leave it to the experts. We do, however, enjoy watching the wildlife that make their home on the lane and in the jungle.”
Dori said this is the home they’ve been looking for since they left Manhattan. “I love everything about this property,” she said, “the natural light, the open interior spaces, the views, the porches, the fact that it’s so close to downtown and yet so completely private. Even on a rainy day it feels good inside our treehouse, where it’s tranquil and always beautiful.”
