Display to remain in place through June 2024
“The second free exhibit celebrating the City of Sarasota’s rich cultural heritage” is on display in the City Hall lobby, which is located at 1565 First St. in Sarasota, the city has announced.
“This new exhibit focuses on the historic Sarasota School of Architecture. It includes models, renderings, reproductions, original blueprints, and archival photographs provided by Architecture Sarasota and Sarasota County Libraries and Historical Resources,” a news release notes.
“As conceptualized and overseen by the City’s Public Art Program and the Historic Preservation Divisions,” the release continues, “the project highlights how the Sarasota School of Architecture — which focused on post-war, Mid Century modern creations — had such a profound impact on the medium that is now widely recognized around the world.”
City Senior Planner Clifford Smith noted in the release that the Sarasota School of Architecture “was one of simplicity, of linear design and transparency by harnessing natural light. Architects Jack West and Victor Lundy used those tools to express themselves to create something entirely different and new,” according to Smith, the release adds.
“There’s an inherent elegance in the design. It tells a story, one that captures the cultural heritage of our great city,” Smith said. “This is part of what makes us unique. These architects were in tune with their surroundings.”
The Sarasota School of Architecture exhibit will be displayed in the City Hall lobby through June 2024, the release points out. “The inaugural exhibit unveiled in November 2022 focused on Sarasota’s circus heritage and the Sarasota Colony Artists,” the release notes. Those pieces have been relocated throughout City Hall and the SRQ Media Studio and are still available for public viewing, the release says.
At 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31, the public is invited to an open house featuring a lecture program on the new exhibit. The session will be held in the Commission Chambers. Among the speakers, the release adds, will be Joshua Goodman, manager of the Sarasota County Division of Historical Resources, Architecture Sarasota President Morris Hylton III, and Sarasota County Libraries and Historical Resources Director Renee Di Pilato.
Sarasota County Libraries and Historical Resources “curates and preserves the County’s large collection of archival records, historical newspapers, fossils, artifacts, and other items that tell the story of the county’s past,” the release explains.
Architecture Sarasota is the steward of the legacy of the Sarasota School of Architecture, the release adds.