The Sarasota Architectural Foundation has been inundated with requests from people who want to tour the Umbrella House on Lido Key since the recent restoration of the shading structure that gives the building its name.
The new sunshade at Lido Shores' Umbrella House is built to withstand 150 mph winds with aluminum posts and pressure-treated wood. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-19-2015.
SAF does not own the house, but it does field such requests on behalf of the house’s owners, Bob and Anne Essner. The Essners hired Howell Construction and Hall Architects to complete the rebuilding of the shading structure, which was knocked down by a storm about 45 years ago and partially rebuilt in 2012 by previous owners Vincent and Julie Ciulla.
To meet the demand from tour-goers, SAF is holding a tour of the Umbrella House at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6. But the event is sold out.
SAF may be contacted at 941-364-2199 for information about future tours. The nonprofit is online at sarasotaarchitecturalfoundation.org, and is also on Facebook and Twitter (@SAF_Modern).
The Umbrella House is widely considered among the most significant midcentury modern houses in the nation. It was designed as a model home for developer Phil Hiss’ Lido Shores neighborhood at the north end of Lido Key. The goal of Hiss and architect Paul Rudolph was to attract attention from both passers-by and the national architectural press.
The shading structure was an attention-getter in 1954 — 2,500 people visited during the first open-house event — and it is once again. But there is more to the house than the superstructure, which is not connected to the house and has been mistaken, said Bob Essner, for something else. He has been asked, “Why are you building this big pool cage?”
Inside, the house is crafted like a boat cabin, making the most of its 1,800 square feet. Bureau drawers are built into the walls — flush in the bedrooms and extending into the living room to provide shelf-like space for displaying photos. The galley kitchen is a model of efficiency. A sunken reading nook is tucked under the staircase and bridge that links upstairs bedrooms on each side of the house.
Cross-ventilation is provided by double-height jalousie windows on both the north and southern walls.
Most of the recent work was focused on reconstruction of the umbrella, as well as landscape architecture that includes a new pool deck and privacy wall. Overgrowth that hid the house from motorists has been removed.
Greg Hall served as restoration architect and discussed the project with Herald-Tribune real estate editor Harold Bubil in a recent interview.
Harold: What is the role of the restoration architect?
Greg: The role of the restoration architect is to bring back and return the lost elements, in this case, the umbrella. The ego that goes into that — architects are famous for their egos — is trying to be as exacting and precise as to what was there originally. Like a historian trying to be accurate with the facts, the historical architect is trying to do much the same — the facts being the elements of the building.
We started the project with the previous owners, and helped them with the first phase. With the Essners, we continued the process. It was fun. There is a bit of detective work that goes into it, including archival research. You have to have a keen eye for what you are seeing, and interpret that properly as to what was there before.
Harold: What was in the archives?
Greg: We were fortunate to have access to copies of the original drawings by Paul Rudolph. Interesting to note that the drawings we received only showed the umbrella extending for the first phase (over the house with about 4 feet of overhang) and not the full length. Esto (Ezra Stoller’s) photographs are so well published, we were able to get copies of periodicals and were able to see that it was all constructed at once.
The earlier drawings showed the intent, and the photographs showed what was constructed. With the surviving columns, we were able to get some critical dimensions of the framing members, and we took it from there.
Harold: One the research is done, what is the process?
The Umbrella House, built in 1953 by Phil Hiss and designed by Paul Rudolph. The landmark's restoration is complete following the rebuilding of the shading structure at the rear of the house. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-19-2015.
Greg: Working with Stirling & Wilbur Engineering Group, we prepared new drawings for building permits. It is a locally designated historic building, so we had to go through the city’s historic preservation board and present what we were doing and get their approval before a building permit could be released.
The reconstructed umbrella complies with the current building codes. There was no concession or allowance made because it is an important house. It meets all the current requirements, and I am sure Mr. (Bob) Garvin next door is happy about that.
Harold: As the original umbrella was knocked down by a tropical storm, what is the wind rating on the new umbrella?
Greg: It is built to withstand 150 mph winds. Often times, not every house can be reconstructed. The codes are so strict, especially coastal-construction rules. But in this case, we were not in the severe flood zone, so the building height did not come into play. But the wind loading for hurricane-force winds did come into play, and what we put up meets those current requirements. You know the effects of the coastal environments on building materials. We used stainless-steel connectors.
Harold: What material is used for the posts and beams?
Greg: The original was all-wood framing; we could not get an all-wood structure to work. We substituted aluminum tubing of the exact same dimension (as the original). By doing that, we were able to get the strength we needed. The alternative was much bigger wood or aluminum of the same color. Our default was: What does it look like from the right of way? And what do you see from the property line? Few people would pick up was that it was aluminum and not painted wood.
Harold: Architecturally, do you like the full-length umbrella, or just the original “phase 1” over the house itself?
Greg: With the reconstruction of Phase 1, the umbrella felt like it was part of the house. With the extension of phase 2, the umbrella feels separate from the house. So it does feel more like an umbrella, providing that protective screen. I do believe the intent was to try to create a structure that was separate from the house, but part of the overall composition. Aesthetically, I like the extension, and I think it is probably much more in keeping with what the original intentions were.
A new privacy wall is not so high as to block the view of the Umbrella House from John Ringling Parkway. The house reveals itself to visitors in stages. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-19-2016.
Harold: Architectural pilgrims traveling to see landmarks have a sense of anticipation as they near their destinations, and then the arrival is a different kind of thrill. In this case, the Umbrella House is partially hidden by a concrete-and-stucco privacy wall along John Ringling Parkway. It is like a woman holding a fan, revealing only her eyes.
There you are with your iconic piece of architecture that you have come to see. But then you must drive further and make two turns onto Westway Drive to come back to it from the front.
Greg: It whets the appetite as you come up to it. The house was sited there specifically. The idea of the umbrella — it is a small house, a modest house, but it doesn’t sit modestly. It is an anchor, a landmark, and the intention, leaving St. Armands and coming into the new Lido Shores, was that the house would have a presence and cause people to want to come in.
The wall came through time and is a circumstance. At the time, John Ringling Parkway was not so heavily traveled. At some point, the road department put in a banked turn, lifting the roadway up higher than it used to be. If you are in the house without the wall, you get headlights right into the house. So putting the wall up was not to tease, but was for a practical reason.
We only took the wall up as high as needed to block the headlights and not create a big billboard of a wall and block the view.
With the historic photographs, we could show the Essners what the property was with the fence. It was nice to make it more open to the street, giving you glimpses of the private domain.
The wonderful one-point perspective you get from the north, the tidy composition of the two-story building mass, framed by the Umbrella, which just hovers above the roofline. There is great tension, and then you walk back around to the west and you see the umbrella extending to the south. That is when you get the feeling of separateness.
Harold: Do you think this will be a pilgrimage site for architectural tourists?
Greg: I hope so. There are a lot of great lessons to be learned from that house. I feel privileged to have worked on it with the Essners, and the Ciullas before them. The No. 1 lesson: Great effect can be achieved through modest means.
