This Week Newsletter - July 7, 2010

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Sarasota History Alive! Where history happens every day.

Havin' Fun in Sarasota!

With all the "Boom" and Gloom news about the Gulf of Mexico disaster these days, we here in Sarasota need to instill in folks are beaches are not soiled, and yes, we can still have fun here. 

Last Sunday, Heather Dunhill of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported on the Disco Ball that was held here recently to raise funds for the Mote Marine Oil Spill Emergency Fund. Though your editor was unable to attend, he is sure a great time was had by all, as evidenced on facebook postings.

In tribute to all the hard work Sarasotan's are doing to avert this deplorable spill, we offer one of our favorite short videos for your viewing pleasure. The title song  really sends a message home that is relevant today. We love it so much, we believe a "ring tone" could be made out of it with proceeds benefitting Mote's relief fund. Just think of all the potential phones that could play that diddy and show our support of shore preservation.

Now that would be something to dance about!*

Click here to view this snappy piece and hear the great tune.  We need more tools of positive reinforcement!

*Send us your comments about this thought, and if enough of you are willing to support this idea, we will approach the copyright holder to see if production is feasible.

(photo credit: Sarasota County History Center)


Tales of Sarasota

Yikes! Bikes and Trikes! Pete sure had some great times when he was a kid. Heck, he got to go to the circus and get behind the scenes. We bet he was the envy of all his classmates.

This week Pete tells us about steamer trunks - remember those? Well, they had locks and people always lose them, don't ya know? What do they have to do with bikes you ask; just Click here to find out.

 

The Sarasota Times

(The Sarasota Times newspaper was our area's first. Rose Wilson was the publisher and editor for many years after her husband passed away. Sarasota History Alive! would like to share artices from this paper with you that reflect on our heritage.

Today we have chosen one from July 7, 1910 regarding ladies fashion tips of the day. One has to be prepared, you know, to keep up with what's in and what's passe. However, there was always a need for that indispensible girdle!

Fashion Notes

More and more vivid are the yoke effects seen in the new skirts as the season advances. Stitching is a favorite mode of finishing.

Two things especially the law of fashion requires this season. One is that the skirt must be short, clearing the floor about three inches. The other is that gowns must be collarless.

A noticeable feature of the season’s blouses is the tendency to simulate a side-front closing.

Suede, patent leather and natural kid belts are in high style with silk, wool and linen costumes.

Long skirts are worn for afternoon and evening, but even at such times many women wear short skirts.

The shawl-shaped collar, cut pretty narrow, is quite prominent, being faced with satin, moiré and even velvet.
Coat lengths vary a good bit, though most of them are below the hip depth, and a number have novel vest effects.

Rather striking are the long evening gloves of white suede, with the back stitching of the seams done in black.

Black pipings are in great favor, being used to emphasize important lines of a costume. They serve excellently the desire for a touch of black.

Rough straws are decidedly smart this season, and, strange as it may seem to the uninitiated, the rougher the straw the costlier the hat may be.

The Gibson plaits are used a great deal in children’s dresses this season. By means of these plaits the necessary fullness may be admirably adjusted.

Turbans made entirely of net arranged in a series of remarkable folds, swirls or loops, are now seen. They are decidedly smart, but very vulnerable to dust.

Very effective trimming for the coat cut on the lines of the Russian blouse, is to have the two-inch banding of the material outlining the neck, sleeves and front of the garment embroidered in heavy silk. The color of the embroidery may tone in with that of the material, or may be in smart contrast. The girdle, too, is of the banding.

 

The Revere Quality Institute House

The Revere Quality Institute House located at 100 Ogden Way is an early example of modern architecture categorized as the Sarasota School of Architecture. It was designed in 1948 by the architectural firm of Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph for the Revere Quality Institute. The residence embodies many principals first developed under the International Style in its planning and design which was adapted to the climate and geographical setting of Florida. It also reflects a new attitude to planning that melded interior and exterior space through an expanded use of glass walls and a minimum of visible structural elements. The Sarasota School architects contributed new design and material elements that distinguished their works from earlier International style precedents. Like the majority of the buildings designed by the small group of architects that came to form the Sarasota School of Architecture, the building is a highly individual stylistic statement, a one-of-a-kind design created to suit the needs and tastes of a client for a comfortable and visually distinctive residence.

Historical Context

The Revere Quality Institute

The post-World War II residential building construction industry raced to meet the housing demands of returning veterans. Wartime restrictions on the manufacture of consumer products and new construction were lifted. Raw material consumption and factory production, previously dedicated to the American war effort, now refocused on the domestic consumer market. It was a period of exciting new advances in residential construction. New and improved light metals and plastics came into common use. Synthetic resins revolutionized plywood building products. Traditional materials like wood, masonry and concrete, re-engineered for more cost-effective wartime erection, found a new place in home building. Prefabrication and other wartime production efficiencies became integral to peacetime construction.

In order to promote their products in this booming new market, the Revere Copper and Brass Company joined with the Southwest Research Institute, part of the Housing Research Institute, to create a national program to advance “better architect-builder relations and the general improvement of the quality of speculatively built houses.” The program solicited proposals featuring quality modern design, which Revere considered more cost effective and livable than traditional residential design. Participants juried into the program would build ten or more economical, single family homes designed by a professional architect. Local and national publicity would promote the homes, architects, homebuilders and Revere Copper and Brass products throughout the country.” Read more...

(photo credit: Sarasota County History Center)

 

The Very Thing to Send (Electronically)

 

Oh, how perfectly convenient! Vintage e-Postcards of Sarasota to send to friends and family with a quick thought from you. Nobody has much free time to write and stamp a card these days, so check out our postcard service. It's fun and as 'easy as pie'. Click here to view the postcards, and try out this 'good time' feature.

 

A Showcase of Sarasota Architecture

In the 1950s, a new style of architecture sprang up in a development off the north end of Lido Key on an island in Sarasota’s New Pass.


Lido Shores began as a vision of Phillip Hiss, an accomplished writer, photographer and traveler, who moved to Sarasota in 1948. Hiss was drawn to Sarasota because of the work of Paul Rudolph, an outstanding young architect who is now recognized, along with Ralph Twitchell, as one of the founders in the Sarasota School of Architecture. With Rudolph and other Sarasota architects, such as Ralph and William Zimmerman, Hiss hoped to build speculative modern homes.


Hiss, born in 1910 in Brooklyn, was a man of independent means. This allowed him to begin his career in real estate development and to open his own firm, Phillip Hiss Associates, Inc. This new career fostered a life-long interest in architectural design and provided a critical link between Hiss and many of the young architects who would prove influential in the International Modern movement.


Hiss promoted Lido Shores as a place where hot-weather problems would be solved through the inspiration of the South Seas. Using homes he had seen in the tropics as examples, Hiss designed homes on Lido Shores that offered the cooling effects of cross ventilation while reducing exposure to the sun. Buildings such as Hiss’s own studio and Paul Rudolph’s’ Umbrella House were done in the International Style while still employing design techniques to allow for solutions to hot-weather problems. Read more...

(photo credit: Sarasota County History Center)

 

Yesterday's Sarasota Calendar

Every day of the year we highlight what took place in Sarasota's history, thanks to Whit Rylee and Tom Payne's extensive research and sense of humor. Frequently check our website's homepage to find out what occured today.

Also, be sure and check out Whit's website at: www.ChickenHillNC.com.

Today in 1975, the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 800 South Palm Avenue, opened to the public. The property includes the Christy Payne home, the Selby home and extensive gardens and research greenhouses. Mr. Selby was a partner in Selby Oil and Gas when it merged with Texaco. His wife of 48 years was a spirited and independent woman who, among her accomplishments, was the first woman to cross the United States by automobile in 1909.

(photo credit: Sarasota County History Center)


Ain't Life Grand?

Your editor spends a great deal of time at the Sarasota County History Center finding interesting information for you to ponder. While there, he also comes across many photos that depict life at an earlier time in history. With that in mind, check out this week's image.

First it is hot and humid days with no rain, then it is rain, rain, rain (and still hot and humid)! It's a good thing the rain clears up long enough the drains to accomdate the water, unlike what it was like on Main Street when this photo was taken. Poor soul still had to pay for parking. I know...sore subject.

(photo credit: Sarasota County History Center)

 

History Locator

This week we are honoring the Gulf of Mexico historical marker on Longboat Key. It reads:

As you gaze over the Gulf of Mexico, you can imagine seeing Spanish ships of the 1500s going north, and the canoes of the Timucan and Calusa Indians scurrying for cover. The explorer, Hernando de Soto, and the pirate, Jean Lafitte, are reported to have landed near here.

During the Civil War, Union ships carrying Confederate prisoners of war sailed south from Tampa to the prison camp at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. In 1897, troop ships ferried U.S. troops south in the Spanish American War.

During World War II, German submarines were reported in these waters.

(photo credit: Greg Best)

Where Am I?

The winner from our last quiz was Phyllis Nodaros. We would like to thank our generous sponsors for providing prizes. You too, can become a sponsor (see below).

Click here to review the photo, question and the correct answer of last week's challenge.

This Week's Clues:

Well, well, well...ain't I just as pretty as a picture? Not too many folks here in Sarasota have a porte-cochere with a super long driveway leading to it. So, with that in mind, you need to answer two questions about me.

  1. What was my name and location?
  2. What is my name now?

 

(photo credit: Sarasota County History Center)


Your prize this week is a Sarasota High School tote bag, and is created and supplied by Sarasota History Alive!

 

If you would like to be a sponsor of our "Where Am I?" quiz, please call us at (941) 951-7727. It only cost $25 per week for us to set up your ad, and then you only have to provide a prize for the winner. What could be easier?

 

Dedicatedly So Cool!

Recently, the famed Umbrella House, owned by Julia and Vincent Ciulla, was historically designated by the City of Sarasota. This Sarasota School of Architecture icon is elaborated upon at the top of this column.

It was a very hot and humid morning on the day of the dedication, and the generous hosts provided Mimosa's and Lady Fingers to sooth the guests as the ceremonies proceeded. Dr. Clifford Smith awarded the couple with a plaque to display on the home.

Also on hand was the contractor Ramsey Frangie and his crew who replaced the 'umbrella' structure on top of the home; no easy task. In Phase II, Frangie will replace the rest of the umbrella section over the pool to complete the famous architectural detail. Pictured above, left to right, is Ramsey Frangie and Vincent Ciulla in the back yard by the pool.

 

Letters-To-The-Editor

Last issue, we announced we are now publishing Letters-To-The-Editor. Here are a couple; don't be shy, send us your opinions.

Van Wezel Estate

Please note that the Van Wezel Residence is located on Lido Key not St. Armands. I agree that it would be a tragedy for yet another historic building to be torn down. I too grew up in Sarasota and my family came here in 1915, so we have seen many changes over the years, some for the good and many not so good.

Barbara Levy Shapiro

War Memorial

Good morning!  I was reading your emailed newsletter a couple of days ago and noticed the following article:

"Normally we honor a historical marker in Sarasota County, but today we have chosen to honor the Sarasota War Memorial located in J.D. Hamel Park adjacent to the foot of Main Street.

The Sarasota Bay Post of the American Legion originally built the memorial at the center of Five Points. Designed by area architect Clare C. Hosmer, the memorial incorporated a flagpole placed there in 1917 to honor the Sarasota men who had answered the call to war earlier that spring. Today that area is going to become a round-about to facilitate traffic flow downtown. Many longtime residents want to see the War Memorial returned to this location, however, the City of Sarasota has approved a flagpole and inscription instead."

The actual statue is the work of E. M. Viquesney.  Viquesney marked the "Spirit of the American Doughboy" across the country; hundreds of them mark county courthouse lawns, memorial parks, and even bridge abutments.

Viquesney also designed a companion, "Spirit of the American Sailor" which was not nearly as popular.

Just thought you might want to know.

Jim Gabbert
Historian
National Register of Historic Places

(Editor's note: Mr. Gabbert and I had several email exchanges, only to find that our local noted artist Frank Colson was commissioned by the City of Sarasota to sculpt the 'Doughboy' atop our War Memorial base which was designed by Clare C. Hosmer. The Doughboy was dedicated in 1998. It bears a striking resemblance to Viquesneys' "Spirit of the American Doughboy." Thanks to Mr. Gabbert for being so observant.)

For your convenience, Click here to submit your comments, experiences, ideas, and general information. Thanks for continuing to keep Sarasota’s history alive!
 

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