The idea of brick street restoration in Laurel Park suffered some setbacks in the past few months, but there may be some room for hope. 

The first blow came in July, following a discussion on the subject of brick street restoration by a LPNA committee looking at historic designation, Scott Perkins decided to take some action to move the issue ...

Laurel Park is taking the first steps towards becoming a National Historic District, a process which could take one to two years to complete. On December 13, we will appear before the city’s Historic Preservation Board to request assistance. If approved by the City Commission in January, the city will hire a consultant (with neighborhood input) to help prepare the lengthy application which will go first to the state of Florida and then receive final approval from the National Park Service, which maintains the National Register of Historic Places--the official list of the nation’s historic places worthy of preservation.

Greetings All,

Please put December 12 on your calendar--another 6:00 pm City Commission meeting at 1565 1st Street, this time for a final decision on the height of the buffer around the neighborhood (except for the Burns Court area which will have no buffer at all!--See below).  This has been the main “development issue” since the neighborhood’s zoning was resolved last August.

As you know, the city spent years developing its new downtown rezone plan based on designs by architect and new urbanism proponent Andres Duany and input from citizens.  As the plan developed over the years, the Planning Department placed Downtown Edge zoning around every major downtown residential area, including Laurel Park.  Downtown Edge is limited to 5 stories, and this allowed a transition from the neighborhoods to the higher 10 story Downtown Cor ...

Over the years, Laurel Park has welcomed residents from all walks of life.  This includes Dennis Kowal, a nationally-recognized sculptor, who has called Laurel Park home since 1989.

Dennis lives in an artist’s compound located at 508 S. Osprey Avenue with his wife, artist Jill Hoffman-Kowal (who ...

PROPERY SALES IN LAUREL PARK AS OF 7/1/2005 AND LISTINGS

FROM SARASOTA MLS

(DOE ...

PROPERY SALES IN LAUREL PARK AS OF 1/1/2005 AND LISTINGS

FROM SARASOTA MLS

There is an old song that says, “I was country, when country wasn’t cool.”  Something similar could be said about Jodi John in terms of where she lives and where she works. 

Members of

Greetings all,

I hope you made it to our last Tunes in the Park--disco-- which had a great turnout.  We will plan for more such fun when the weather cools down a bit.

On the political front, the zoning debate is entering its final stage.  The neighborhood’s emphatic vote to retain our current zoning (in the city-administered land use survey) resulted in the Planning Department’s decision to recommend no change to Laurel Park’s land use/zoning.  At the June 22 Planning Board hearing, the Planning Board also agreed with that recommendation, perhaps enco ...

We arrived at METRO Coffee & Wine on a Monday night at about 7:30.  The place was crowded.  Most of the indoor café tables were filled and so were the leather love seats, leather chairs, and bar stools.  There were a few tables open on the patio.  A man was playing acoustic guitar quietly in the corner. 

The place seems like a gathering spot in a bigger southern city—maybe Austin or

PROPERY SALES IN LAUREL PARK AS OF 1/1/2005 AND LISTINGS

FROM SARASOTA MLS

Did you know... that along with the many fine examples of historic Craftsman Bungalows, Prairie Style, Depression Era, and Mediterranean Revival homes we are blessed with here in Laurel Park, we can also claim an historic connection to the 1940 New York Worlds Fair?

The home of Barbara Southard and Greg Dibona ,1840 Oak St., was build in 1939 for Mr. and Mrs. J.F. Cosby.  It replicates one of the futuristic residences that would later featu ...

My husband, Paul, and I have owned the Dutch Colonial Style home on the northeast corner of Oak Street and Madison Court since 1996. We bought it from John Early - Judge Early - as everyone called him. He was 98 at the time. The plaque on the front of our / his house signifies it as a Site of the Great Floridians 2000 program. This was a State program which designated over 1,000 of Florida’s leading citizens, and Judge John Early was one of the 13 sites and/or people recognized from the City of Sarasota.

Our notion of “the block” includes 10 houses, two of which actually front on Oak Street. At least six of the houses were built as part of an Owen Burns subdivision in the 1920s, while two houses were moved here from other locations.

The Owen Burns subdivision included four duplexes(5l2 / 516 517/ 527) and two starter homes (537/543). This same subdivision also included four starter homes on

Columbia ...

On a subtropical half acre of gently curving lawns, Oak, Camphor, and Magnolia trees surround an inviting gazebo. A lone gardener carefully removes weeds around the slow growing Giant Anthurium he planted months ago. The new, three-foot long leaves are as tender as lettuce. Across the lawn, the year round, autumn red, and orange foliage of Crotons and Copper Leaf stand out in strong contrast to the lush greenery of Podocarpus and East Palatka Holly. Everywhere one looks there is more to appreciate than a mere glance can afford. This is a symphony of plants, and Bill Townsend, dedicated gardener working for the City of Sarasota, Landscape Division, is it’s conductor.

As of the beginning of February, Laurel Park has a shiny new bulletin board. This new bulletin board, designed by former board member, Architect Todd Sweet, was paid for by a grant from the city through the Neighborhood Crime Prevention Grant Program. Installed in front of our park at 1725 Laurel Street, the bulletin board will serve as a central location for “official” neighborhood association business and news, including; LPNA meeting dates, minutes, upcoming events and other information of note.

&a ...

On the edge of Laurel Park perches one of Sarasota’s legends--The Woman’s Exchange. It’s really two organizations in one: a charitable organization and a non-profit consignment shop. Based in the old Herald Tribune building at Orange and Oak streets, it simply rules the world of giving and getting.

The ‘Exchange’, created in 1962, supports the local Arts. Over 21 organiza ...

Here in Laurel Park over the last several years, landscapes have become quite diverse. With relatively small lots and a variety of architecture, the urban gardener faces challenges. Our unique downtown location has attracted new property owners from across town and from around the world, all of whom bring their knowledge and experience of plants with them. It is this interesting mix that adds to the richness of our urban lifestyle. It can also lead to confusion and misunderstanding.

As we have many historically significant houses here, we also should appreciate the advantages of old growth trees and the sensitive ecosystems that have developed with them. No matter where in Laure ...

Those of us who like the look of century-old Mediterranean Revival architecture...the earthy colors and breezy archways, the wrought iron details, the casement windows, the tile underfoot and overhead…are never bored driving in Sarasota. The older residential neighborhoods have many of these hidden treasures, representatives of this early 2Oth century style. I’m not talking about the new homes and tract mansions springing up everywhere; those that take the basic details noted above and then layer them, one upon another, in a busy, overdone style totally lacking the charm of the originals. No, I’m drawn to places like Laurel Park’s Columbia and Madison Courts where smart homeowners have acquired these small homes and lovingly prodded them into their present use without mucking up the or ...

I grew up in the country, at least partly. This was due to my mother’s single parent status, at a time when a woman could be paid as little as a dollar an hour. That economic reality led to my living sometimes with my grandparents on rd. 10 Brown Rd. in Knoxville, Tenn.

Their house, until I was in the eighth g ...

During the early 1900s, for as little as $3,500 a family could have an inexpensive, well-designed home offering privacy and independence.  Today, we spend $3,500 rewiring those very bungalows.  While we applaud the creativity and practicality of the people who built our homes, and honor them with Historic Designation plaques, don’t you wonder what they would think of our commitments, financial and emotional, to these simple dwellings?

From before 1990 until the 1930s, bungalows were built everywhere in the

I decided to write this article for a couple of reasons and I will tell you those reasons soon, but first I want to say what is not my reason for writing it. Here it is— the BIG disclaimer — I am not an expert, nor do I ever hope to be.  My knowledge of the subject comes from living in a big old house with drafty, rotting windows and a 90-pound dog who doesn’t like the FPL meter reader (another story for another time). My expertise comes from perhaps having done 10 or so windows in the past two years.

So when you see something here that you disag ...

Children of today’s Laurel Park neighborhood were within walking distance of a number of early Sarasota schools. The first school in the downtown with more than one room was located on Main Street, east of Orange Avenue behind today’s post office. Built in 1904, this two-story wood-frame structure had four classrooms downstairs and two classrooms with an auditorium on the second floor. More than 120 students enrolled there on opening day.

Economics was too boring.

And I couldn’t study English without reading Chaucer and Milton.

So I decided to major in urban studies. Sure, it was useless — what liberal-arts major isn’t? — but urban studies was actually pretty interesting. Mostly, it involved studying cities and analyzing what made them tick, why some succeeded where others failed. It proved to be a perfect springboard to my professional development as a busboy.

...

I first came to Laurel Park in 1989 where I rented the little gray cottage at 1901 Hawkins court from George Famiglio. I was a single parent suffering from “empty nest” syndrome. The cottage had a fence so I got a pretty puppy I named Taurus. I spent a lot of time in the yard with my dog.  To fill empty hours I tried to teach myself to paint with acrylics. When I was a small child in Texas I walked to the library every week to check out books. One I loved the most was a book on how to draw horses.

& ...

Though not mentioned in Sarasota’s history books, Col. Edward Webb Morrill was a prominent citizen in the city’s early days.

When Morrill arrived in Sarasota in 1900, he was 61 — an age when many people come here to retire.

Recently, the Sarasota County Commission passed an ordinance allowing some tax relief for improvements to historically designated properties. The new law allows owners of historically designated properties to avoid an increase in property taxes that resulted from renovation or improvement of their properties. The property tax abatement lasts for 10 years and can be a big savings for the owner.

The basic steps in the process are:

Have you noticed the cooler breezes filling the streets and lanes over the past few weeks? Here we go... all together now… let’s give a long sigh of relief… for Summer seems to be almost over and Autumn’s here.

Those breezes have brought with them the opening of windows at night here in Laurel Park. And with that come the sounds of the Blue Jays and the Mockingbirds in the mornings, the calls of the evening screech owls, and the all-too- frequent reminders that it’s really a jungle out there! Now at night we can hear the sounds of marauding raccoons and the occasional possum foraging through our back gardens and compost heaps. In my own yard, I see the evidence in the mornings o ...

Within the borders of Laurel Park reside many talented artists. Numerous sculptors, painters, musicians, architects and textile designers have moved into the area over the last few years, and the neighborhood is becoming more attractive to new artists all the time.

Actually, Laurel Park has always been home to people in the arts. One Laurel Park artist who long-time Sarasota residents will surely remember is Arlie Gray. Arlie, his wife Gladys, and their two children moved to &l ...

Jim and Helen Miller are the proud new owners of the historic landmark Spanish Oaks apartments on Oak Street.  Looking to leave the bustle of Washington. DC and settle into “semi-retirement” in Sarasota, Jim and Helen were struck by the beauty of these charming, two-story townhouses which were used as a resident hotel in the 1920’s, and which today house a variety of working singles and couples, artists, and Ringling students.