One visit to Downtown Sarasota and you’ll understand why so many people love to visit and live in this special area. Where else can you enjoy a tasty meal at one of Sarasota’s finest restaurants, jump on your boat in Marina Jack’s, watch the latest movie blockbusters, attend a play, and have a multitude of shopping choices within a few steps of you home or condo?
Those who enjoy arts and culture are attracted to Sarasota because it’s home to the West Coast Symphony and its famous Sarasota Music Festival, the Florida Studio Theatre, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, the Sarasota Ballet, the Sarasota Opera, and the Sarasota Players. All of these are within a short drive or walk to Downtown Sarasota.
Table of Contents
Downtown Sarasota Homes For Sale
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Map of Sarasota
Market Statistics
Photos
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History of Sarasota
Sarasota began attracting wealthy Americans in the 1910’s as it does today. Bertha Palmer, widow of Chicago developer Potter Palmer, came to Sarasota and built extensive gardens on her waterfront winter estate, Osprey Point, which is today’s Historic Spanish Point. Palmer also purchased a 30,000-acre ranch in eastern Sarasota which is now Myakka River State Park.
John Ringling, of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus fame, made a mark on the community of Sarasota in various ways. In the 1920s, he and his wife, Mable, built a magnificent Venetian-style estate on Sarasota Bay named Cà d’ Zan. Then they built an art museum for their collection of works by Peter Paul Rubens and other 17th-century Italian and Flemish art. In addition, John used his circus elephants to help build the first bridge from the mainland to St. Armands Key, which he developed as a commercial and residential center.
The circus’ winter quarters were moved to Sarasota in 1927, thus creating a new identity for Sarasota as a “circus town.” Now Sarasota is known as the “Circus Capitol of the World” and is home to many circuses. In 1949, the gymnastics program at Sarasota High School was expanded to include circus acts and the Sarasota Sailor Circus was born. Sarasota County is the only public school system in the United States that sponsors an after school youth circus program known as the Sailor Circus and is also home to Ringling’s Clown College
Sarasota became a mecca for modern architecture between 1941 and 1966 when a group of architects came together to debate the philosophies of abstract expressionism in a creative community with a cultural tradition ready to accept tenets of modernist design. The result was a remarkable body of work known as the Sarasota School of Architecture and their work is still enjoyed here today.
