Sunday Favorites: When Modern Meets Mediterranean

SARASOTA – When it comes to redeveloping downtown areas, historical structures often get cast aside for more modern construction. However, once in a while, it's nice to see a compromise. This week, we'll look at the marriage of modern and momentous in a new expansion coming to downtown Sarasota.

Back in 1922, it was the Mira Mar Hotel that was the swanky new addition to the downtown Sarasota skyline. The new hotel, which was advertised as one of the city’s most "modern" buildings, featured hotel rooms, apartments and a 1,200 seat auditorium. The set of buildings surrounded a courtyard and gardens which looked out on Sarasota Bay.

Headlines of local newspapers read "The Golden Age of Sarasota has Begun" on the day of the grand opening in 1924, two years after construction had started on Palm Avenue, just south of Main Street.

The 1920s was known as the real estate boom in Florida. It was during this era that northerners began to take notice of Sarasota as a possible vacation and/or relocation destination. Scottish developer Andrew McAnsh, undertook the project at the request of local officials. McAnsh was visiting Sarasota but living in Illinois in 1922 when he decided to move to the area and take on the project.

McAnsh is credited as the first to use the Mediterranean-style architecture that became synonymous with the city. Under separate ownership, the DeMarcay Hotel was constructed adjacent to the Mira Mar at the same time and by the same contractor. Named for its original owners Paul and Julia DeMarcay, the hotel included a popular cafŽ on the ground floor.

At the same time, the Roth Cigar Factory began construction on the Mira Mar Court. Run by brothers Edward and Michael Roth, the factory was complete in 1923 and took over cigar production from the ill-fated Sarasota Cigar Factory, which closed a few years earlier. Cigars produced at the Roth Cigar Factory were sold for 8 cents at a storefront and newsstand on Main Street.

The factory continued to produce cigars until 1938, when the newsstand and factory relocated to Pineapple Avenue.

While the DeMarcay building underwent a name-change to the Palm Hotel, and was renovated to include a storefront on the bottom level, much of the original building–including the fixtures and accents, like the cedar plank roofing and the dash stucco–remained untouched.

Now a new development is coming in to turn the original Mira Mar Court into a modern high rise, but instead of razing the DeMarcay and the Roth buildings, the developer is incorporating them into the design–at least the facades.

G.K. Barrington Development, of Illinois, plans to gut the interiors of the historic buildings but preserve the frontages while creating modern high-rise apartments smack dab in the middle. The new DeMarcay Historic Urban Environ boasts ultra-contemporary residential homes with breathtaking views and swanky finishes.

Is this the compromise of the future, where new development meets historic renovation? Or is using the DeMarcay name and faade a dismissive effort by developers? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and tune in next week for another edition of Sunday Favorites.