Laurel Park Landmark celebrates 91 Years…………

The Sarasota Herald Tribune is celebrating 91 years of publication.  The newspaper’s first home was in the building best known today as the Woman’s Exchange at the corner of Oak Street and Orange Avenue.  Read the article in today’s paper….

An earlier post on the building…………

Woman’s Exchange

 

A landmark in Sarasota and an anchor building in Laurel Park’s national historic district – The Woman’s Exchange.  The not-for-profit organization benefiting the arts has occupied the building since 1969.

539 S. Orange Avenue – Building in the rear is todays spanish Oak Apartments

 

The structure was constructed in 1925 for the Sarasota Herald Newspaper – today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune, our city’s longest running newspaper.  This building, along with several industrial and commercial buildings, and the Sarasota County Courthouse, which was briefly housed on Oak Street, created a pocket of commerce in a growing residential area during Florida’s Land boom.

Sarasota Herald Building

 

In the 1980’s the city surveyed and inventoried its historic properties and selected 24 buildings that it felt exemplified Sarasota’s history to be preserved for future generations.  Those 24 properties became the first in Sarasota to be honored by inclusion on our nation’s most prestigious list of valuable historic buildings and sites – The National Register of Historic Places.  The Woman’s Exchange building is one of those honored properties.

 

 

Why are Laurel Park’s Historic Structures now being Regulated?

Laurel Park became the City’s seventh National Register of Historic Places District March 11, 2008.  It took 3 years, the work of many volunteers and came at a cost to the City of more than $15,000 (paid consultants) to survey, create boundaries, record the history and make application for the State of Florida to submit to the National Park Service for determination.

Before moving forward with the application meetings were held, articles published, and notices were sent to Laurel Park’s property owners to explain the process and the advantages of becoming a National Register Historic District. It was made clear to the owners by the City-hired consultant and City staff that designation would not impose any restrictions on what owners could do with their property.

Designation is an honor. By becoming a National Register District Laurel Park joined a prestigious list of more than 86,000 properties across our country and 1,602,903 resources whose history is now recorded and woven together to form a great heritage quilt of historic fabric throughout the United States.

To learn more about the National Register go to Dwight Young’s article in Preservation Magazine.  It is a fantastic read!

There are 270 structures in Laurel Park’s National Register District that are designated as “contributing” to the Historic District, and 2 properties that were individually nationally designated prior to the district designation.

After Laurel Park was awarded the National Register District designation the City then enacted an ordinance that created regulations which now affect the owners of both the Individually designated national structures and those 270 structures that contribute to make up the District.

Division 8 of the Sarasota Zoning Code applies to historic preservation.  It was written to regulate locally designated individual structures and local districts.  The words National Register were never in the code prior to 2009 and today they only show up in two sections of the code.

Sec. IV-822

and Sec. IV-824

Minutes from the City’s Historic Preservation Advisory Board meetings confirm the lack of  authority to review Individually designated  National Register properties or properties that contribute to National Register Districts even after 2009……….

“Chair Hall noted that, at the last meeting, members were exploring the idea of increasing protections to historic resources within the City; particularly those listed individually on the National Register that are not locally designated and those listed as contributing structures to National Historic Districts that are also not locally designated.  Those structures do not go though local review by this board.” Jan. 11, 2011

“Historic preservation protections in place in the City’s ordinances do not extend to National Register Properties.” Dec. 14, 2010

“It came as a surprise to citizens that nationally nominated properties are outside the reach of this Board.” Oct. 12, 2010

City staff, in the person of the City’s historic preservation planner, appears to be taking a different approach.  More recent HP Board meeting minutes below find the historic preservation planner explaining why a structure is before the board for review…..

“the proposed demolition was before the HPB due to being a contributing structure to the Laurel Park National Historic District…”March 10, 2015

329 S. Osprey

“329 S. Osprey…when the Laurel Park Historic District was created the structure was listed as a contributing structure, and that is why it was coming before the HPB.” Feb. 10, 2015

But staff seems to pick and choose what is regulated and what comes to the HBP Board. The structures below, all contributing structures to the Laurel Park NRHD, did not come to the HP Board for review.

1902 Laurel Street

1902 Laurel St. – a 1920’s contributing structure – Demolished 3/2014

1652A Oak St. – a 1925 contributing structure – Demolished 6/2015

1910 Laurel St. – a 1925 contributing structure – Demolished 10/2010

Let’s back up a little…..Prior to 2009 if you wanted to demolish your historically designated structure in Laurel Park and your structure was on the Florida master site file, which it likely is, you had a 45 day demolition stay after filing for a demolition permit with the building department.  This stay was created to allow time for the City’s HP Board and local historic preservationists to contact interested parties who might move and reuse the structure rather than demolish it.  After that 45 day period the property owner was free to proceed with the demolition.

So, what started as a way for the City, interested parties and preservationists to have time to find options to reuse historic structures vs. demolition has morphed into a burdensome, often hardship, situation by creating requirements for the structure owner to have to comply with. The 2009 demolition ordinance creates a 120 day stay period and the HP Board has the authority to extend the time to a year.  The City requires a review of the building by the City’s historic preservation planner. The City has the right to require mitigation. The City may, and often does, require the owner appear before the City’s Historic Preservation Advisory Board, hire a preservation professional to document the building history, and obtain written quotes from a certified house mover for relocation of the structure and quotes from a salvage company to remove anything that can be repurposed. The City also charges an additional fee for an historic structure to be demolished, over an above the demolition fee. Whoa!  That is a big dump on owners who never expected and were never notified they would have this responsibility.

We live in a great small city.  It’s comparable in size to Charleston but it has nowhere near the amount of, or quality of, historic structures.  Sarasota is not a community that values historic preservation due in large part to the lack of public discussion, inclusion and neglect of noticing residents about structures deserving of preservation.

In Laurel Park, property owners have little idea of the status of their old homes and even less about what incentives or benefits are offered to them to preserve and retain these small bungalows and cottages. Even the neighborhood association makes no effort to help the residents to understand what is designated in the district.

There are actually incentives and benefits offered by the City to preserve historic resources such as relief from building codes and an exemption from FEMA so you can add on to a historic structure in Laurel Park’s flood zone without having to build up.  Who would know???   Where is the discourse, the education, the promotion?  The City’s 2030 Comprehensive Plan has an entire chapter on Historic Preservation with goals and objectives that states the City will do just that.

This past May was preservation month. Every year in May communities and cities and states throughout the United States take the month to celebrate, honor and  promote historic preservation.  In the City of Sarasota, not one event was scheduled.

The regulations imposed on nationally designated structures should be removed.
They were enacted without notice to those most affected by them.
They are applied unequally and they fly in the face of the City of Sarasota’s voluntary program to preserve our historic resources.

The 3rd Historic Designation in Sarasota …….

 Burns Court National Register District

 

In the City of Sarasota there exist 2 types of historic designation offered to help preserve and  recognize the city’s valuable historic resources. One is national designation – listing on the National Register of Historic Places.  The other is local designation offered by the City of Sarasota.

Local Designation in Laurel Park

 

What is confusing and misrepresented as a designation is a listing called the Florida master site file – FMSF for short.  It is not an official designation.  It is not a designation at all.

FMSF Listing Harbor Acres (built 1948) – demolished

 

FMSF is a state archive for resources in Florida that are 50 years old or older. It’s simply an inventory.  It contains more than 196,000 cultural resources and more than 21,000 manuscripts.  Anyone can submit a resource to the FMSF – anyone!  For preservation researchers, the FMSF can be a goldmine of information.  But for communities who attempt to utilize it as a standard in their local ordinances the FMSF can create quite a quagmire.

It is not consistently updated, submission forms are riddled with inaccurate information and the inventory does not cover all resources in the state or the City of Sarasota that are 50 years or older by any stretch of the imagination. Establishing any review authority based on a list that has no standards and no requirements is extremely problematic.

The City of Sarasota has included the FMSF in their preservation ordinance and uses it as a standard for review almost on par with the City’s locally designated historic properties. This why it is often erroneously referred to as a historic designation.

FMSf listing – built 1950 – yet this is clearly a newer structure and demolition of the original house was never recorded on the fmsf

 

On the upside – FMSF properties are offered relief from the building code in the City of Sarasota. Listing on the FMSF offers owners virtually all the same exemptions and latitude that the City provides to locally designated property owners such as easy zoning code variances and relief from building codes.

 

Excerpt from  –  Zoning Code City of Sarasota

A FMSF property owner can decide whether to go through the City’s review process to take advantage of the perks, while owners of locally designated structures must go through review whenever a building permit is necessary for alterations. I confess, I own a locally designated property and the review is not a big issue – but if you are considering applying to locally designate your property, why would you choose to spend the time and money to do that when you can receive the same benefits by simply listing the property on the FMSF and escape mandatory review?  Ah, but you would miss out on the bronze plaque and your property being recognized on a  list on the City’s website!

FMSF property preserved and enlarged through the exemption from the 50% rule

 

The pièce de résistance of inclusion on the FMSF in the past was if you owned a property listed on the FMSF that is in a flood zone, the property was automatically, without review by the City’s HP advisory board or the administration, exempted from the 50% rule and substantial improvement. You could add on without elevating the new addition saving thousands in the construction cost to elevate! Many very small, functionally obsolete cottages on great pieces of waterfront which would ordinarily be bulldozed were preserved because of this.

Indian Beach Lane – Built 1935 – Not on the FMSF

 

On the downside – property owners  whose property has been listed on the FMSF face a rude awakening if they wish to demolish their building.  The city requires a review of the building by the City’s historic preservation planner.  The City has the right to impose a stay of 120 days and require mitigation.The City may and often does require the owner appear before the City’s Historic Preservation Advisory Board, hire a preservation professional to document the building history, get quotes from a certified house mover for relocation of the structure and quotes from a salvage company to remove anything that can be repurposed.  The City also charges an additional fee for a FMSF structure to be demolished, over an above the demolition fee.

House on left FMSf  (built 1938) – House on right is not FMSF  (Built 1951)

 

For property owners the biggest problem is they likely don’t even know their property may be on the FMSF.  No one notifies you when it is listed.  The City doesn’t publicize or promote it. It’s not in your deed, its not part of the property appraiser’s information on your property.  You have to be savvy enough to know the list exists.  For years the only way to find out was to contact the state’s preservation office. More recently, the City has put the FMSF list on their website.

  House on left is FMSF (built 1915) –  House on Right is not FMSF (built 1950)

 

What is shameful is the condition of Sarasota’s FMSF list.  It is not maintained, not regularly updated and it is far from being comprehensive.  By using the FMSF list to regulate what properties in our city can receive valuable relief from the building code and what properties may be subject to a demolition stay and the added expenses to mitigate before demolishing a structure are incredibly unfairly applied.  While your 1964 house may be on the FMSF it is quite possible your neighbor’s house built in1936 is not.   Many old properties have been overlooked. Many properties have not been surveyed.  If the city code is to be fairly applied then all properties built before 1965 need to be listed on the FMSF.

House built in 1980 is ERRONEOUSLY listed on the FMSF

 

Owners of individually designated and contributing properties in the City’s National Register Districts have a somewhat unique situation. The City’s preservation ordinance and code pertain to locally designated individual resources and locally designated districts.  The City’s zoning code does not regulate nationally designated properties or districts except in one, and only one section of the code – Section IV-822.

In 2009 the City amended the zoning code to be able to administratively regulate  national register historic resources individually and within a national district.

 

More than likely your nationally designated property whether individually designated or contributing to a national district is also on the FMSF. Your historic property is subject to whatever regulations the City has mandated for FMSF listings.

National Register of historic places Contributing Structure

 

So when you and your neighbors agreed to have your neighborhood designated a national register district and were told the designation would not impose any obligation on your property, or restrict your basic right to use and dispose of the property as you see fit that was and is true from a national /federal level.  It is not true from a local level.  As is the case here, the City of Sarasota considers your property a FMSF listing and has amended the zoning code to regulate your historic resource.

434 S. ORANGE – BUILT 1946 – NOT ON THE FMSF

 

So how exactly does a property get on the FMSF?  Over the years the City has hired consultants to do windshield surveys of the City’s historic resources in specific neighborhoods around the City.  Some of the listings are done fairly thoroughly, others not so. As national districts are proposed and their resources identified, they too are added to the FMSF.  Individuals can also add properties to the list.  It is the responsibility of the City to maintain the city’s FMSF listings.

Dolphin Street Structure circa 1902 – Demolished but FMSF listing Remains

 

Can a property be removed from the FMSF list?  Nope.   According to the State Historic Preservation Office ” The FMSF holds public information gathered, processed, and organized partly or wholly at public expense. Granting such requests would be similar to deleting public tax records at the taxpayer’s request.”

 

You can request information about a particular FMSF  listing by contacting the State Historic Preservation Office via email: sitefile@dosmyflorida.com. The office is extremely helpful and quick to respond.

FMSF forms are  also available online if you wish to file one for your 50 + year old resource. For more information on the Florida master site file visit: http://dos.myflorida.com/historical/preservation/master-site-file/

New Construction in the Historic District………

A rendering of the first home to be offered (pre-construction) in the Homes of Laurel Park development between Devonshire and Alderman Streets east of Rawls Avenue.

At the corner of Osprey Avenue and Laurel Street a project begun before the economy tanked has new construction.   Here is the first of 4 more homes to be built on the site of a former motel.

These new homes have not tried to replicate an existing style of architecture in the neighborhood.  They stand apart and are easily identified as something new in style to the district.

Modern design is absolutely encouraged by preservation professionals for infill in historic districts to enrich the architectural fabric of the district.  Respecting what was built in the past is important.  Adding to it, generationally, creating more layers to preserve in the future is equally important.

 

 

Sarasota’s Circus Roots……

A quick posting for throwback Thursday…………

John Ringling’s decision to move the winter quarters of his circus to Sarasota in 1927 forever changed the community.   Individuals connected with the “Greatest Show on Earth” made their homes here, raised their families here and added an array of new professions to the young city.

It wasn’t long before Sarasota became known world-wide as the home of the circus.

Happy Thursday!

Sarasota – New Years Eve 1926

The Hotel El Vernona opens with a formal New Years Eve celebration!

“Designed by Dwight James Baum to resemble a moorish Castle, the five story hostelry offered 150 rooms, most with a bay view, and the Sarasota Herald bragged it was ‘Almost startling in its magnificence, brilliant in its glory and fairly taking one’s breath with the simple grandeur of its appointments.'” Owen Burns, The Man Who Bought and Built Sarasota” by Jeff LaHurd

 The hotel stood along Broadway, today’s Route 41.

The grand building was named after Mr. Burns’s wife Vernona.  The hotel would become the social epicenter of Sarasota – the place to be seen!

Owen Burns and Dwight James Baum

Woman’s Exchange……….

 

A landmark in Sarasota and an anchor building in Laurel Park’s national historic district – The Woman’s Exchange.  The not-for-profit organization benefiting the arts has occupied the building since 1969.

539 S. Orange Avenue – Building in the rear is todays spanish Oak Apartments

 

The structure was constructed in 1925 for the Sarasota Herald Newspaper – today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune, our city’s longest running newspaper.  This building, along with several industrial and commercial buildings, and the Sarasota County Courthouse, which was briefly housed on Oak Street, created a pocket of commerce in a growing residential area during Florida’s Land boom.

Sarasota Herald Building

 

In the 1980’s the city surveyed and inventoried its historic properties and selected 24 buildings that it felt exemplified Sarasota’s history to be preserved for future generations.  Those 24 properties became the first in Sarasota to be honored by inclusion on our nation’s most prestigious list of valuable historic buildings and sites – The National Register of Historic Places.  The Woman’s Exchange building is one of those honored properties.

 

 

Going Backwards………..

It certainly seems appropriate on throwback Thursday to post pictures of the Hover Brothers’ Arcade built in 1913 on Sarasota Bay at the foot of Main Street.  It was the seat of our government, Sarasota’s City Hall for many, many years.

It was just this week that Sarasota’s newly appointed City Commissioners took on one of their first major issues – a neighborhood sewer lift station.  All five commissioners voted to spend an outrageous sum of money to build none other than a replica of the Hover Brothers’ Arcade building.  This disneyesque structure will house nothing more than the mechanics of one, yes, just one, of our neighborhood sewer lift stations.

The sewer lift station is being located in Luke Wood Park.  Ironically a previous City Commission voted to locate this neighborhood lift station on this land that was gifted to the people of Sarasota in 1931 for the sole use as a recreational park.

 So here you have it in a nutshell!

Our city tears down a perfectly good building on its bay front.  The City disregards the intended use of land generously gifted to them for all citizens to enjoy by relocating a sewer station to the middle of it and now they are going to recreate the building they tore down 47 years ago at an astronomical price to move our waste.

Demolition of the Hover Arcade – City Hall in 1967

What’s next?

I suppose when the next sewer lift station needs replacement our city can recreate the train depot and for the next one, The El Vernona / John Ringling Hotel or the Mira Mar.

Hover Brothers’ Arcade from the City Pier

Orange Avenue after 1908

This is a terrific view of Orange Avenue looking south from Ringling Boulevard.  The street immediately on the right is Cross Street.  The street further down on the left is Morrill.  At the corner of Orange and Morrill stands the Church of the Redeemer.  It was moved to the site in 1908 and remained there until 1944.  Today’s Laurel Park is off to the left beyond the Church of the Redeemer.

The map below may help to orient you to the view.

Coming to Sarasota……….

Sarasota’s bayfront would have greeted you with this landscape 127 years ago……

It was 1887 and John Hamilton Gillespie was beginning to revamp a fishing village on the west coast of Florida called Sara Sota into “the prettiest place on the coast of America”.  In the distance you get a peek at the town’s new hotel, The DeSoto.

The hotel was sold in 1902 and reopened with a new name – The Belle Haven Inn.  Almost a decade would pass before the demand for rooms was greater than what were available.

A new wing was added to the rear of the hotel in 1911, a year after Owen Burns arrived to make Sarasota his home.  Mr Burns’s vision and drive would ultimately transform Sarasota beginning with improvements to the bay front including a seawall.

The Belle Haven Inn sat on land that is today the location of The Orange Blossom  Condominium at the corner of Main Street and Palm Avenue. And yes, The Orange Blossom was originally a hotel – one of many that lined Main Street and Palm as Sarasota grew into a sought after winter resort destination.

Simple, effective ……..

 

This is one of the cleverest visuals I’ve seen over the years to draw awareness to a project!

   I believe this was in Calistoga, CA

 

Adding a new page…..

Sarasota has some unique neighborhoods and sites that add wonderful character to the city.  Read more about them on the “More Districts” page of this website.

The page is a work in progress and more will be added to it shortly.

Sprucing up with new paint colors in Laurel Park…..

There have been some wonderful visual improvements in the district recently.  

A new paint job can make such a pleasing change.

270 Buildings Contribute Over 9 City Blocks…..

A National Register of Historic Places District in the City of Sarasota’s downtown core………..Laurel Park was awarded the distinction in February 2008

The district is bounded on the north by Morrill Street and on the south by Alderman St. & Brother Geenen Way.  It extends west to Rawls Ave. & Orange Avenue and east to Julia Place & Lafayette Court.

Washington Park is one of ten platted subdivisions located within the district boundaries.

Madison Court

“Preservation of historic properties and communities fosters community pride resulting in more involved and informed citizenry.  By preserving existing historic resources, a connection is established with our past.  This connection sparks recognition that we have an obligation to responsibly manage our community for future generations.”

Historic Preservation/Smart Growth Principles

Please note – This website and its content are in no way related to the neighborhood association of Laurel Park.

Myths

Myth #1

If I build in a National Register historic district I have to apply the same architectural style to my new home as what exists in the district.  I can’t build a contemporary home in a National Register Historic district…….

Wrong!   Especially in a National Register historic district like Laurel Park that has no one era or year of historical importance.  The neighborhood developed over decades (1920-1957) as did its architectural styles.   New construction offers an exceptional opportunity to add yet another type of architecture and new character.

Photo credit:http://www.contentdg.com/walnut-house-modern-historic-district/

An exceptional new home in Laurel Park sensitively scaled to its neighbors.

 

Myth #2

National Register Districts restrict a property owner…………..

Wrong!  Designation as a National Register historic district is honorific. It is our country’s way of recognizing significant sites and neighborhoods throughout the United States that merit preservation.

National Register district designation does not protect or preserve a property.   It places no restrictions on the properties within a district. Owners are free to build, remodel, renovate, sell or even demolish their structures.

Regulations and restrictions on changes to a historic property come from state and or local governments adopting statutes or ordinances and designating National Register districts as “local” historic districts.

In Sarasota, Florida there are eight National Register of Historic Places districts  within  the city.  Of those eight, only one, Rigby’s La Plaza District, is designated a local district and regulated by city ordinance.