Field Club - Living History On Sarasota’s West-Of-The-Trail Bayfront
Bev Murray
Neighborhoods
Hidden away along the eastern shores of Little Sarasota Bay in southern Sarasota is one of the areas’ most historic neighborhoods - The Field Club.
With the fast rate of growth across all of southwest Florida over the past decade, many of the most popular areas to live in, are newly built neighborhoods, conveniently adjacent to shopping and dining, or master-planned communities a little further away from town.
Older neighborhoods with that undefinable “old-Florida charm” are rare gems for home buyers who are looking for a place to call home that still has that relaxed-paced Florida feel, yet is still in the heart of town.
The Field Club in south Sarasota is a perfect example of an “old Florida’ neighborhood, perfectly located on Little Sarasota Bay, and tucked away behind a busy commercial area in south-central Sarasota.
Situated south of Siesta Drive and north of Phillippi Creek, the Field Club began as part of a wider trend during the 1910s and 1920s of successful business owners from the northern states building winter homes to take advantage of the warm climate, coastal location and slower pace of life.
What is now the Field Club clubhouse was built in 1925 as the winter home of Stanley and Sara Carroll Brown Field. Originally attracted to the Florida Gulf Coast by the Palmer Family, the Fields were owners of the Marshal & Field Company high-end retail stores in Chicago, and had decided they wanted their new home to be in the “great house” architectural design.
With this in mind, the Fields selected a designer who specialized in “great house” architectural design, architect David Adler. Adler was a well-known designer who had done work for some of the Chicago area’s most influential people of the time, including Potter Palmer and William McCormick Blair. In fact, Adler would become so well-known for his highly regarded “great house” designs that would design 43 of the homes during his career.
The architectural style “great house”, as the name implies, was centered around designing a very large structure rich in elegant architectural features, that created an opulent lifestyle for the owners. Often these homes also required a sizable support staff to maintain the homes, and their many luxuriant if not always practical features.
Architect David Adler was especially noted for relating the environment that the home was located in with the design of the home, sometimes as in the case of the Field’s home, in dramatic and stunning ways.
With the design of the Field’s home, Adler wanted to reflect the Bayfront location into the design of the home and in keeping with other winter homes under construction in the area, also took strong design cues from the Spanish-Mediterranean architectural style.
The resulting design was stunning. Adler created a lagoon with a small canal that connected the man-made body of water with Little Sarasota Bay. The main house spans the lagoon entrance canal with large windows facing both Little Sarasota Bay and the lagoon.
The exterior walls of the new home were made with intricately designed esoteric details, and the fine level of attention to detail was carried inside with custom designed doors, window details, grills and millwork.
Located in a 16 acre plot, visitors to the Field Home passed through a two-story gate house, also intricately design in the Spanish Mediterranean architectural style.
However popular with the wealthy at the time, the era of “great house” home design would come to an end. Drastic changes to Federal tax laws made the building of such lavish homes, more costly and highly impractical and this unique architectural style would come to an end, the result of which is that all of the remaining such homes are historical treasures.
Making good use of their new winter home from 1927 to 1957, the Fields would return to Sarasota every year. By 1957 though the Fields were late in life and made the decision to stay in Illinois year-round and place the estate for sale.
Historical Field Home At Risk
However, the timing of the sale placed this beautiful home at risk. Post-War Sarasota was growing and developing, and during this time, and other important architectural styles and movements were being developed, including the now world-renown “Sarasota Modern” architectural style founded in part by modern architectural greats, Paul Rudolph and Ralph Twitchell. With exploding growth, and a public looking to modernize the area with new tastes in architecture, the most likely outcome of selling the Field Estate would be that the 16 acre estate would be subdivided, and the historic home, now seen as an old and expensive to maintain building from another era past it’s prime, would be razed to the ground.From Elegant Estate Home To Historical Club House
With a strong emotional attachment to their Florida winter home, the Fields sought a way to protect the home from being destroyed and redeveloped. The Fields retained John McCulley, a local Realtor and instructed him to sell the property to a club, rather than to a developer. The home was to only be used for club purposes and in doing so would protect the historical building from being destroyed. With it’s waterfront location along Little Sarasota Bay, Realtor McCulley approached The Sarasota Yacht Club with 16 acre estate at the price of $175,000. The Club declined buying the property however, the property caught the interest of several members of the Sarasota Yacht Club. A group of Sarasota Yacht Club members came together and agreed to the terms of the sale. A 15-member board of directors was chosen and they settled on the name “Field Club” for the property. On July 16, 1957 the property closed for the Field’s asking price.
Acting quickly, the Field Club board of directors selected architects Ralph and William Zimmerman to transform the 1920’s “great home” from a residence into a clubhouse.
Much of the property was changed from the original opulent winter haven, including the front entrance became a service entrance, a new wing was built to house a large kitchen. Extensive remodeling in the main house took place including rooms being removed and other rooms where enlarged.
Club amenities were built, such as tennis courts, a swimming pool and the docks were greatly expanded to allow room for club members boats and waterfront entry.
The architects transformed the beautiful home into a active club, but were largely able to keep the exterior the same as the original structure, and in 1986 the Field Club was added to the National Register of Historic Places
Since 1925 this beautiful location has been charming residents and guests with it’s old-Florida historic charm, unique design and waterfront location thanks to the vision of Stanley and Sara Field will be enjoyed by generations to come, and improves the surrounding neighborhood with it's historical character.
Other nearby neighborhoods to the Field Club include Oyster Bay and San Remo
If you are looking for the perfect home in an “Old Florida” Sarasota neighborhood contact Realtor Bev Murray today.