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The Craig Residence, detailed below, is currently offered for sale.
To see this and other leading examples of Sarasota's renowned modern architecture (past to present), contact Martie Lieberman, Realtor and Modern Architecture Specialist with Coldwell Banker International Previews Residential Real Estate, Longboat Key, Florida.
Special event: Sunday, May 4th, 2003
Martie Lieberman is Co-Chair and a founder of the Sarasota Architectural Foundation, Inc. Martie also conceived and Co-Chaired the 5-day "Sarasota School of Architecture Tour & Symposium" in November 2001, in conjunction with her term as president of the Fine Arts Society of Sarasota, Inc. Now specializing in the sale of modern-design homes with Coldwell Banker, Martie invites you to celebrate Sarasota's modern architectural treasures, from the 50s to today.
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Tim Seibert, a Modernist in the Sarasota School of Architecture Courtesy of the Sarasota Architectural Foundation
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In electing Tim Seibert to the College of Fellows, the American Institute of Architects commended him as, "Nationally recognized as a leader in the Sarasota School of Architecture. His commitment to architecture as an art has resulted in consistently provocative and elegant design solutions distinguishing his work for more than forty years." Seibert Architects, the firm he founded in 1955, is the oldest continuing architectural practice in Sarasota.
Seibert, now retired, began his career working for Paul Rudolph and Philip Hiss in Rudolph's Sarasota office. Once launched in his own practice, Seibert broadened the scale and scope of his work to include large development projects, luxury condominiums, exclusive resorts, marinas and shopping centers. Project locations became diverse: Australia, Hawaii, France, the Caribbean, as well as the Northeast and Midwest United States. Many involved complex land planning, permitting and design work for entire resort communities including Arvida's 1400-acre Longboat Key Club, Florida in conjunction with the SWA Group of California.
National awards and honors, recognition of his buildings by national and international publications, date from the mid-1950s and continue in abundance.
Major Seibert projects on Longboat Key include the Resort on Longboat Key, Town Plaza (Avenue of the Flowers), Bayport Beach & Tennis Club, Sunset Beach, Beach Place, Sea Place, Buccaneer Resort. Downtown Sarasota's Seibert designed condominiums include Bay Plaza, Lawrence Pointe, Regency House and Gulfstream Towers. Siesta Key is the location of many of Seibert's early Sarasota School designs and early condominiums such as Siesta Towers, Siesta Beach Pavilion and the John McDonald Home. Seibert Architects was consultant to the Arvida Corporation beginning in 1956 and to the Sarasota School Board. Today, many new Boca Grande residences are designed by Seibert Architects.
Tim Seibert began his studies in art and architecture at Stanford University in the late 1940s and graduated from the University of Florida as bachelor of architecture in 1952.
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THE CRAIG RESIDENCE
The Craig Residence was awarded local historic status in the year 2000, after it was restored by owner/architect Martin Treu.
The designation criteria referenced the Craig Residence as "embodying the distinctive characteristics of the Sarasota School of Architecture; exemplifying the broad cultural, political and social history of the City of Sarasota during its post World War II building boom."
The Craig Residence was recently featured in Florida History & The Arts Magazine, and was visited by the Society of Architectural Historians Southern California Chapter tour in January 2001, "On Parallel Lines" comparing the Sarasota School of Architecture movement to the Case Study Homes program in California. The Craig Residence was next featured in "An American Legacy: The Sarasota School of Architecture Tour & Symposium" (November 1-5, 2001) which was attended by over 1000 designers and architects from around the world. The Craig Residence will be on the Sarasota Architectural Foundation's upcoming "Best of Tim Seibert, FAIA" tour this year.
The Craig Residence is a one-story, wood frame house with flat roofs and an L-shaped plan designed by Tim Seibert and constructed in 1955. In 1959, a taller living room addition was designed by the architect at the south end of one leg of the plan. The entire exterior is finished in vertical, tongue-in-groove cypress boards. Bedrooms are located in the private leg of the house. A kitchen, expanded since the 1959 addition, is located at the corner of the "L" near the entrance.
The design of the Craig Residence acknowledges many characteristics classic to the Sarasota School: flat roofs with generous overhangs giving ample shade, a free flow of light and cross ventilation through continuous bands of horizontal and jalousie windows, terrazzo flooring, an open carport, large custom-built sliding glass panels from ceiling to floor. Each of the enormous sliding glass panels in the bedrooms, built of a single sheet of glass set inside a wooden frame, constitutes an entire wall in each room. When these panels are fully opened, the poolside wall completely disappears - a remarkable feature before the days of prefabricated aluminum pocketing glass doors. A pool cage permits the interior spaces to flow easily to the outside pool court.
This is only the second time the work of a living architect has received historic designation. The single previous one, Paul Rudolph's Healy/Cocoon House on Siesta Key, was built in 1948-50 and awarded local historic status in 1984.
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ANOTHER EXAMPLE BY TIM SEIBERT, FAIA:
COONEY RESIDENCE
For a third of a century this house has been occupied by its original owners. The Cooney Residence most recently won the 2001 25-Year "Test-of-Time Award" from the Florida State chapter of the American Institute of Architects. It was previously featured in the 2000 Summer Issue of Echoes magazine and featured by the Southern California Society of Architectural Historians on its "Parallel Lines" tour, and on the Fine Arts Society's "An American Legacy: The Sarasota School of Architecture Tour & Symposium" November 1-5, 2001.
According to Tim Seibert, clarity of concept and meticulous detail and workmanship using ordinary materials are what make this design work. The house is built on a 50-foot lot as simply and inexpensively as it possibly could be. It has bearing block walls, a flat roof, stock windows, and stucco and drywall finishes. What is special about the house is its pavilion living area with its 10-foot ceiling, full height glass walls, and visual extension to the outdoors. The rest of the house turns inward providing, in contrast, more intimate bedroom and service spaces. On one end, the master bedroom wing opens to a private, walled courtyard while the opposite end of the house contains two bedrooms, a bath, family room, kitchen, laundry and garage.
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Photo credits: Seibert Architects
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(c) 2003 Seibert Architects and Sarasota Architectural Foundation and Joe Kunkel and Jetset - Designs for Modern Living and Martie Lieberman. All Rights Reserved.
