The Venice Area Garden Club's 26th annual home tour will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The tour features five homes and one garden on the island of Venice.
The Banyan House, at 519 Harbor Drive S. in Venice, was buit in 1926. It has six bedrooms and six and a half baths in 4,712 square feet. It is one of the best-known houses from the 1920s real estate boom, and is featured on today's home tour presented by the Venice Area Garden Club. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 2-8-2012.
Included in the lineup is the 1962 “Parrot Party Palace” (renovated in 2005) and a 1959 midcentury modern that has been renovated in keeping with the original elements.
Also on the tour is the historically designated “Banyan House” at 519 S. Harbor Drive. It was built in 1926 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
It is one of two houses on the tour from the Florida land boom, when the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, desperate to recover its members pension funds from a previous investment disaster, bet it all on Florida real estate. It did not turn out well, as the BLE was late to the party.
The Banyan House was built for Robert Marvin, manager of the Venice Co., a subsidiary of the BLE. The banyan tree, from which the property takes its name, was planted in 1928 and is said to have been a gift of Thomas Edison, who died in 1931. Because of the collapsed economy in the new town, the house was vacant from 1929 to 1935. It has served as a boarding house, a nursery school and an unofficial USO headquarters during World War II. It also has been a shark's tooth and fossil museum.
Current owners Chuck and Susan McCormick bought the house in 1986 and totally renovated it, reopening it as the Banyan House Bed and Breakfast in 1987. The pool was the first one in Venice.
Nearby, the 1926 house at 409 S. Harbor is also on the tour.
Also on the tour is a 2014 Gulf-view house, at 521 S. Harbor, that is an example of a new home with Old World charm.
The featured garden surrounds a historical, Spanish-style home. The owners have created a European estate garden with lush tropical landscaping.
All tour proceeds benefit the Community of Venice and provide scholarships for the students of Venice High School.
Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at the tour homes, or in advance at Celebraton Corner, 303-A W. Venice Ave.; Cardware/U.S. Post Office, Venice Pines, 1224 Jacaranda Blvd.; Classic Creations in Diamonds & Gold, 2389 Tamiami Trail, South Venice; Collectors Gallery & Framery, 114 S. Nokomis Ave.; Deborah’s Quilt Basket, 337 W. Venice Ave.; The Knitting Place, 258 W. Miami Ave.; and Village Pharmacy of Nokomis, 1095 Tamiami Trail.
