John Ringling – Analog Artist Digital World

Pam Schwartz and I traveled down to Lido Key on the west coast of Florida near Sarasota. Saint Amands Key is the ritzy shopping district and we were going to meet a travel reported who was writing about Florida travel for her mid-Western paper. While Pam explored for a bit I sketched in the center of town where these Greek statues were arranges in a circle. A man in a bright yellow shirt sat reading the newspaper while smoking a cigar.

Property on the island was originally purchased by Charles St. Amand in
1893, who used it for fishing in the gulf and the bay. The name of the
island, St. Armands Key, was based on a misspelling of his name. Years
later, the circus magnate John Ringling bought land on the island to
build a large residential development. His plan was to build a shopping center around a circle in the middle of the town. Due to the intervening Florida land crash, the Depression, and World War II, it wasn’t until the fifties
that the area really began to take off.

Many of the
statues date back to the twenties reflecting John Ringling’s belief in
bringing art and culture to the city of Sarasota. His travels to the Renaissance cities of Italy inspired this vision. The
classical sculpture he saw combined the realistic portrayal of
individual beauty and the humanistic aspects of localized beauty.
Sculpture was a key component of his vision as he began marketing lots
on St Armonds Key in 1927.

One of the statues in my sketch, standing in front of a beach shop at the corner of John Ringling Boulevard and St. Armands Circle is, Asclepius, the god of medicine and one of the seven virtues. Allegory of Sarasota, Its Seven Virtues was conceived and designed by Edward Pinto and was dedicated on Feb 2, 2008. Also in my sketch is Music, created by Ewald Judt. This statue represents the performing arts.

The Save Our Statues (SOS) project’s goal has the goal of preserving the
statues John Ringling purchased. Twenty-one new statues
were added in 2007 to enhance his legacy. Today, St. Armands Circle is a
hub of activity for the island that is otherwise filled with mostly posh
residences. The beach, sitting on Lido Key, on the Gulf of Mexico is
only a few blocks away.

Ca’ d’Zan, was a Venetian Gothic residence in Sarasota, Florida, which was the winter home of the American circus owner, developer and art collector John Ringling and his wife Mable. They had been traveling throughout Europe for nearly 25 years,
acquiring circus acts and art. They both greatly admired the
architectural style of Venice’s Ducal Palace, Ca’ d’Oro and the Grunwald Hotel. When they decided to build a home in Sarasota, Florida, where
they had been winter residents for a number of years, The Ringlings took
these palazzi as their inspiration, and Sarasota Bay as their Grand
Canal. Ca’ d’Zan, means “House of John”, in the dialect of their beloved Venice.

One of America’s wealthiest couples, the Ringlings started building Ca’
d’Zan in 1924 and completed it shortly before Christmas in 1926 at the
then princely sum of $1.5 million. Mable, who had kept an oilskin portfolio filled with postcards, sketches
and photos she had collected during her travels, oversaw every aspect
of the construction. The home was built from terra cotta “T” blocks, concrete and brick, it is
covered with stucco and embellished with glazed tile.
Decorative tile medallions, balustrades and ornamental cresting in soft
red, yellow, green, blue and ivory highlight the pink patina of the
stucco and exterior.

Sadly, only three years after
its completion, Mable died from Addison’s disease and the complications
of diabetes. When John Ringling died in December of 1936 he bequeathed his estate to
the people of Florida, but legal wrangling with his creditors went on
for a decade until the property finally passed unencumbered to the
state. During this time Ca’ d’Zan remained closed. Finally, in 1946 it
was reopened to the public, but still in a state of disrepair. It was so run down it was used as Miss Haversham’s Mansion in the 1998 production of Great Expectations.

Restoration of the home was finally completed in 2002, at a cost of $15 million, ten times that of
the original house, Ca’ d’Zan was returned to its former glory
and reopened as the grandest mansion on Florida’s sun coast. Today it
stands as one of America’s architectural treasures.