Building Description El Vernona-John Ringling Hotel, Sarasota Florida

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The multi-story Mediterranean Revival structure located at 111 North Tamiami Trail was built as the 150-room El Vernona Hotel according to the plans of architect Dwight James Baum and built by the Burns Construction Company. The hotel was named in honor of Mrs. Owen Burns, the former Vernona Hill Freeman. Designed in the Spanish mode, the hotel was constructed of concrete, hollow tile and steel construction, with a rough pecky cypress beams. The northern pavilion consists of a pair of round-arched door enframements, the transoms of which are protected by intersecting turned wood grilles which are picked out in a variety of primary colors. The round-arched door enframements flank a projecting one-story porch which visually balances the entrance enframement and frontispiece located at the southern pavilion. Shops were originally located at the ground floor level of the east elevation and doors were originally provided within the arched and shouldered enframements. Fixed sheet glass windows were provided at the ground floor openings at an unknown date.

The north elevation is pierced by a variety of window forms including, small openings protected by metal grilles, large metal casement windows as well as replacement jalousie windows. Several balconies supported on delicate, sigmoid-shaped metal brackets and protected by metal railings appear at the north elevation. A pair of particularly ornate barrel-tiled shed-roofed wood balconies appear at the northwest elevation. The wood balconies are supported on wood rafter ends and protected by turned-spindle balcony railings at the northwest elevation. The pair of wooden balconies flank a masonry oriel projection carried on a one-story, three-bay cast stone crenallated base. Entrance is provided at the northwest elevation by an arcuated loggia with barrel-tiled shed roof. Evidence of' conscious distressing of the facade surface is apparent at the loggia entrance. The loggiaed entrance is reminiscent of the buttressed sidewalk arcades used at the "Mission Inn" in Riverside, California, a Spanish Colonial Revival structure designed by Arthur Benton but studied by the architect, Dwight James Baum.

At the south elevation, several of the ground-floor entrances were protected by original wood screen doors which are protected by wood spindled grilles which consist of wood turnings which have been sawed in two and applied to the wood screened enframements. The spindles are picked out in tints of green, blue and red. Fragments of original glass exist, enamelled glass in tints of green, yellow, orange and purple, set in leaded cames, adorn the original casement windows located at the south elevation. Many of the original metal casement windows located at the upper stories have been replaced by jalousied windows.

The ground floor of the west facade served as a service area located off the kitchen, pantry and food preparation areas located at the northwest facade. Balconies were provided at the upper stories to afford views of Sarasota Bay which is located to the west of the Hotel.

The horseshoe arched open loggia located at the central hyphen of the east facade provided a fascinating interior/exterior space with views overlooking Broadway to the east and access to the terrace and roof garden located to the west. Particular design sensitivity is shown in the selection of materials and rusticity of details present in the loggiaed space with views framed by horseshoe arches which are carried on red brick piers; textured stucco interior walls and a gabled roof structure which is carried by massive rough-hewn beams, supported by a structural system of king posts and trusses.) To the west of the loggia is the masonry superstructure of the dining hall. Each facade of the masonry structure is pierced by three window openings which provided views of the dining area one story below. Shaped roof parapets appear at the four facades of the masonry pavilion and cast stone embellishments cast facade of "rich brownish golden tone of stucco." The stucco facade was consciously distressed with an antique appearance created by the use of brick insets which appear to have been exposed by the weathering of the stucco finish through the ages. The distressing is particularly evident on the masonry piers which flank the pergolas located .at the northernmost block of the entrance or east facade. Restrained cast stone ornamentation was applied to the stucco facade in particular at window and door surrounds, such as the stylized oeil-de-boeuf windows set in cast stone enframements which pierce the stucco facade at the connecting hyphen and at the third story levels of the entrance blocks located at the east elevation. Additional texture was provided by pierced openwork tiled insets provided at the chamfered corners of the observation tower, located at the southeast elevation. Two-thirds of the hotel rooms were provided with balconies which opened on to the-interior court as well as the four exterior facades. In addition to providing ventilation for the hotel rooms, the balconies provided an additional design element with the wrought iron and ornamental wood balconies creating a play of light and shadow against the golden stucco facade. The contemporary press estimated that there were innumerable wood balconies and forty-one wrought iron balconies.

In massing the building centered around a central two-story hyphen and monumental dining pavilion. A multi-story block was located at the west elevation and the entrance facade was divided into three units located at the east elevation. An observation tower was added at the southernmost entrance block to offset the pergolaed bungalow projection located at the northernmost entrance block: "To avoid any possible monotony and still maintain the harmonious syjnmetry of style."

Roof types varied in form including the hipped roof located above the observatory tower to the gabled secondary roof structures, such as the mini-mirador projections located at the northeastern block. All roof surfaces were covered with terra-cotta barrel tiles supported on concrete sub-roofs.

Approached from a piazza paved with a tiling manufactured by, "Triana, Jacintol Flores," of Seville, Spain, the main entrance was located at the east elevation." Two pavilions flanked a central hyphen which was lower in elevation. The southernmost block was topped by a hipped roof while the northernmost pavilion was characterized by the use of a shaped parapet flanked by two open pergolas. The north and south pavilions flanked the central hyphen topped by a gabled roof structure and central pedimented parapet decorated with a massive cartouche, a shaped and labeled molding executed in cast stone. The gabled roof protected an open loggia, a nine-bay horseshoe-arched arcade which spanned the connecting hyphen and provided access to the roof garden which occupied the central core of the hotel.

The main entrance was and is asymmetrically located at the second bay of the south pavilion of the east facade. The door is set within a cast stone enframement constructed of quoins and voussoirs which dwarf the round-arched opening. The entrance enframement is topped by a stepped frontispiece which is pierced by a balconied casement opening. The hyphen is symmetrically massed and three monumental shouldered entrance enframements pierce the ground floor facade. The transom area of each shouldered enframement is carried on massive, hand-adzed decorated the stucco facades. Each window is protected by a barrel-tiled shed window hood. A roof skylight provided additional light for the dramatic Moorish style dining area, located below the patio/roof garden. Tea was originally served in the patio/roof garden: "Tables are set beneath multi-colored parasols along the spacious terrace . . ." Multi-hued geometric patterned Tunisian and Spanish tiles surround the central polygonal fountain located between the loggia and masonry dining superstructure. Similar tiles were also applied to the stepped banquettes which surround the edges of the shaped parapeted masonry pavilion.