Sarasota News Leader

09/27/2013

Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/180498

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 96 of 132

Sarasota News Leader September 27, 2013 A site was selected for a new Sarasota High School, and the county paid $317,000 for the lot at the height of the first Florida land boom. In his book, Grismer notes the sum was more than the original investment company paid for the entire site of the city in 1885, all 50,000 acres of it. Page 97 With two new high schools in the city — Booker to the north and Sarasota High on the South Tamiami trail — an athletic rivalry naturally arose and continues to this day. SAVE SARASOTA HIGH! Sarasota's only example of Collegiate Gothic A building was designed by Tampa architect architecture was almost lost to the wrecking M. Leo Elliott, who also designed Bay Haven ball in the early 2000s. After it had seen nearly three-quarters of a century of hard use, the and Southside in the Mediterranean Revival School Board was ready to tear it down. Style. But the high school was to become a shining example of Collegiate Gothic, a very While the exterior remained as impressive popular school of architecture, with exam- as ever, the interior was obsolete. Students ples on university and high school campuses who grew up with air conditioning could not across the nation. understand how a school would use window units, or lack A/C entirely. Athletics have always been a part of Sarasota High's activities, even at the Main Street cam- But the School Board's plans ran afoul of pus. For the new 1927 building, a football field alumni, fans of architecture and a general and track were essential to keep the "Fighting community attitude that the iconic building should be saved. After a bitter back-and-forth, Sailors" competitive. Building 4 at Sarasota High School is known internationally as a design created by architect Paul Rudolph. Photo by Norman Schimmel

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Sarasota News Leader - 09/27/2013