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Your voice, your actions, and your support is critical to saving historic landmarks and cultural gems. The Advocacy Alerts below will let you know just how to help!

Working together will give us access to the tools and resources to save our cultural heritage and play an active role in shaping our future. Grassroots advocacy projects educate the community about threatened historic spaces and empower us with a voice to protect those that are critical to Sarasota’s authentic sense of place.

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Colson Hotel for Negroes

During the early and mid-20th Century, Jim Crow laws made it illegal for African Americans to stay at white hotels. To address the issue, in 1926 Owen Burns erected the Colson Hotel in the Overtown neighborhood in the Mediterranean Revival style. The building contained 26 guest rooms and a comfortable lobby which featured a fireplace. It provided an important service for the Overtown and Newtown neighborhoods and has become important to African American history in Sarasota and isa contributing resource to the Overtown National Register Historic District.

Over time, the Colson Hotel was converted to an apartment building. In recent years, the building has suffered from deferred maintenance and neglect. In 2023, the Colson Hotel was purchased by JDMAX Development with the stated intent to demolish the building. Though a conversation has commenced with the developer, there has yet to be any headway inpotentially preserving the building.

HOW TO HELP

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Colson Hotel

1425 8th Street, Sarasota

Colson Hotel

Waldman Building

5333-539 S Washington Blvd. Sarasota

Waldman Building

In 1957, Victor Lundy designed a two-story commercial building for Harry and Esther Waldman. Construction of the building was completed in early 1958. The building included retail space, offices, and a large dance studio/ballroom, originally occupied by Arthur Murray Dance Studios.

The two-story main elevation faces east and is broken into three bays with solid floor to ceiling glass which wraps around to half of the side elevations. The two second floor outside bays protrude outward from the first floor. The northerly bay is square while the bay to the south, housing the dance studio is in the form of a half circle. The walls on the rear half of the building are stacked Ocala block.

The building has suffered from long term deferred maintenance and is currently vacant. The property was purchased this year by CPP OPA-LOCKA LLC as a part of a consolidation of all parcels on the block with the intention of demolishing and redeveloping the property.

UPDATE

Sadly, Victor Lundy‘s Waldman Building has been demolished by the developers who plan to build Payne Park Townhomes, a mixed residential and retail complex that will not include affordable housing.

Waldman Building

13 Main

A two-story wooden vernacular, built in (or before) 1925, this home remains a bit of a mystery. It is clad in wood novelty siding with a gable roof and appears to retain some of its original sash windows. Clearly a prominent part of the early development in Osprey, located on the Tamiami Trail, it is quite possible that this home was built to fulfill both a residential and commercial need. From the early 1980s, the property was home to the Tunningly Glass Studio, and it has changed hands several times since, but earlier occupants have been difficult to identify.

The address of the property in Osprey has been listed as 13 Main Street and 13 N. Tamiami Trail. One of the few historic touchpoints along the Trail, this property has the potential to contribute to the story of how Osprey began. Deferred maintenance and storm damage have taken a heavy toll on the home, and without significant repairs it could easily fall victim to demolition.

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13 Main

13 Main ST./45 Tamiami Trl., Osprey

13 Main

McAlpin House

1530 Cross St., Sarasota

McAlpin House

The McAlpin House, located at 1530 Cross Street in the City of Sarasota was built in 1912 by George McAlpin. Constructed from McAlpin’s own unique hollow, rusticated, pre-cast block, the building served as his own residence while he helped to construct the City of Sarasota. George McAlpin rana concrete and construction business with his partner Owen Burns, and is responsible for much of the City’s sidewalks and curbs. One of the last remaining examples of this type of rusticated block construction, and recognizing the important role McAlpin himself played in the original development of the City, the home was added to the City of Sarasota’s Local Register of Historic Places in 1984.

In early 2023, the parcel was part of a group purchased by developer Orange Pineapple LLC for the purpose of demolition. The demolition application was unanimously denied by the City’s Historic Preservation Board. The City Commission heard the developer’s appeal and requested a continuance for 6 months to allow the developer to determine whether the building could be moved off site or incorporated into the larger project. The Commission will hear the case again in March of 2024.

HOW TO HELP

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McAlpin House

I.M. Pei Dorms at New College

Commonly referred to as the ‘Pei Dormitory Student Complex,’ the Bates, Rothenberg & Johnson Residence Halls at New College were built in 1965 by I.M. Pei with Bert Brosmith. It is the only I.M. Pei design in the state of Florida and a rare example of brutalism from this era. An internationally renowned architect, Pei designed the dorms as three courts, or pavilions designed for student living, each centered around a lightly landscaped ‘Palm Court’. In stark contrast to the lighter forms of the Sarasota School architects, Pei’s work featured a heavy concrete frame with interior fountains and ponds (later converted to gardens). The courts featured balconies with sliding doors to bring in light and air.

The buildings were renovated in 2014, however they still suffer from deferred maintenance and heavy student use. New College has expressed that the dorms no longer meet the standards for modern student housing, and there is tremendous concern throughout the community about their potential demolition. Architecture Sarasota has partnered with New College in the hopes of identifying adaptive reuse and preservation strategies for the buildings.