If you are coming to Sarasota for the winter months and maybe even considering buyuing a home or condo here, you owe it to yourself to become more familiar with some of the treasures Sarasota has to offer. One of them is the Ringling Museum and the Cà d’Zan Mansion.
John Ringling, one of the five original circus kings of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, had become quite wealthy and so in 1911, John and his wife, Mable purchased 20 acres of waterfront property in Sarasota with the intention of spending winters here. Their first project was building the splendid Venetian Gothic mansion, Cà d’Zan between 1924 and 1926 for the then staggering sum of $1.5 million. The style of the house reflected Mable’s taste and passion for opulence.
Like many of America’s wealthiest individuals of the time, John and Mabel gradually acquired a significant art collection and rare antiquities. John had a 21 gallery palace bult to store and display his treasures on his property.
At his death in 1936, John Ringling bequeathed the art collection and mansion to the State of Florida. For ten years after John’s death, while the Ringling Museum was opened ocasionally, it was not professionally maintained. The Cà d’Zan mansion remained a private home while the State of Florida fought with creditors over the fate of the estate.
By the late 1990s, as a ressult of deferred maintenance, the Cà d’Zan mansion was falling apart, the roof of the Museum of Art leaked, and the historic Asolo Theater built on the property in 1957 had been condemned. The future of the Ringling Estate was uncertain at best.
In 2000, the property was transferred from the State to Florida State University. In 2002, the state provided $42.9 million to begin restoration. With another $55 million in privately donated funds, FSU began the transformation of the property from a delapitated series of buildings to the outstanding museum site it is today.
Today, the Ringling estate is one of the largest museum complexes in the nation. The Florentine style of the Ringling Museum emulates the Uffizi Gallery housing the Ringlings’ collection of European paintings, architectural details and fine art objects accumulated as they traveled throughout Europe seeking new circus acts. The museum, in addition to the oustanding fine art collection inside, features a courtyard filled with bronze replicas of Greek and Roman sculpture, including a bronze cast of Michelangelo’s David.
While you are in Sarasota for the Winter, I invite you to tour the Ringling Museum as well as the many other cultural attractions of our fair city.
While you are here, I’d be delighted to meet you at your convenience and explain all the benefits of buying a second or year-round home or condominum here in the Sarasota Florida area. For more information on Sarasota, visit my Sarasota Florida real estate website where you'll find all sorts of information on Sarasota and the delightfully sunny lifestyle available to you here. For more immediate service, feel free to call me directly at 941-266-1799.
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