In a neighborhood of modest houses, this one is an unexpected surprise.
Jennifer Linehan of Michael Saunders & Co. listed this house on Pinecrest Street in Sarasota's South Gate in January, but it didn't last long before it went under contract at $579,000. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-22-2016.
On a corner lot on Pinecrest Street, east of Tuttle Avenue in Sarasota’s South Gate neighborhood, stands a two-story house of 4,000 square feet. Obscured by lush hedges and shaded by a large oak tree, the house presents well but does not stop passers-by with overwhelming curb appeal.
But inside, it works its magic.
The ceilings soar to reveal a double-height living space. Two dramatic staircases — one of them a wooden double-helix circular — lead to the second floor. A planter, framed with aqua tiles, separates the kitchen area from the living room.
A tall copper hood over the fireplace adds drama to a house with plenty of it already.
Upstairs, the two bedrooms are served by a hallway on the north and a narrow passageway on the south that’s almost like a porch, except that it’s enclosed.
The Stewart Home shows the touch of an architect, but the owners don't know who designed it in 1958. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-22-2016.
The house appears to have been designed by an architect, but which one is a mystery to the owners. The Sarasota School of midcentury modernism was in full swing at the time it was built in 1958.
Like most well-designed houses, it reveals itself in stages, with something to see at every turn. There’s even a walk-in attic, which houses “the octopus” — the air-conditioner and its ductwork.
The house has been well loved and meticulously maintained since 1994 by Robert and Dawn Stewart, who have furnished it with streamlined Heywood Wakefield blond furniture and a variety of other modernist pieces. Some of them were bought from the author of a book on Heywood Wakefield. Others came from family members.
Repairs and replacements, such as doors and plumbing fixtures, have been done with midcentury authenticity in mind.
“My husband is a searcher,” Dawn Stewart said.
The circular staircase in the Stewart home in South Gate. It is not original to the house. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-22-2016
When they bought the property out of foreclosure, “The bathrooms were in bad shape, the house was in bad shape. But the bones were great,” said Dawn Stewart.
“We just love it. It is an awesome, awesome house.”
However, it is larger than they need at this stage of their lives. So they came to the “difficult decision” of putting it on the market.
“We are getting older and we need something smaller,” she said.
Listing agent Jennifer Linehan of Michael Saunders & Co. found the house to be an unexpected treasure.
“Of all the houses I have seen in 11 years, this is one of the most unique, and most unexpected,” Linehan said.
At $579,000, it was snatched up quickly, and the closing is just a few weeks away. The buyers, Dawn Stewart said, appear to love the house as much as they’ve loved it. “They just walk through and linger.”
On the day the house went into the MLS, a caravan of Realtors came through. “Their eyes just lit up,” Dawn Stewart said.
The double-height living room in the Stewart home. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 1-22-2016.
“Even though it is so big, it doesn’t live like a huge house. And from the road, it doesn’t look like it does on the inside. People are so surprised by the spaciousness and the architecture.”
“It’s such a great space for a family,” Linehan said. “It has a happy feeling to it, very calming.”
Now the Stewarts are dealing with the challenge of “what to keep and what to get rid of” as they move to a house of about 2,400 square feet. They are “half-sizing,” and it is not easy.
But, with parents to care for, the Stewarts say that life “is going to be easier in a smaller space.”
