OSPREY — Those interested in beach cottages, mid-century Modern architecture and Florida will want to go to Sarasota’s Historic Spanish Point before Sept. 30, 2008, to catch the exhibition on architect Paul Rudolph entitled Paul Rudolph: Florida Houses & The Sarasota School of Architecture.
This exhibition explores the mid 1940s work of award-winning and world renowned architect Paul Rudolph {1918-1997}. After attaining his Master of Architecture degree from Harvard, Rudolph formed an association with Ralph Twitchell in Sarasota County. Known as the Sarasota School of Architecture, this style defined the look of modern Sarasota and influenced residential architecture everywhere.
The exhibit features models of the houses, as well as large photographs from noted modernist photographer Ezra Stoller. The exhibit is a companion to the book Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses by Christopher Domin and Joseph King.
While in Sarasota, go by Riverview High School, located just off Route 41 on Proctor Road near Swift. Sadly, the Sarasota School Board is demolishing the school in 2009, so if you are planning to see Rudolph’s masterpiece before it is recycled into fishing reefs (or whatever happens to buildings these days), you best get on on the plane to Sarasota. While here, you might also learn more about the Sarasota School. See www.sarasotaarchitecturalfoundation.com.
The show is at the entrance building to Historic Spanish Point, the estate of Chicago’s Palmer family and philanthropist Bertha Honore Palmer. The estate includes gardens, a historic structures and an ancient Indian Mound, where visitors can literally go inside what were once Florida’s pyramids. For more information, see www.historicspanishpoint.org.
