VENICE Preview

303 E. Venice Avenue, Venice, FL

This tour starts at: 303 E. Venice Avenue in the parking lot of the 1927 Historic Venice Train Depot. Park in the second lot by the tower. You may have to press the Play Button to start audio on this first stop.

Greetings, and welcome to the Venice Auto Tour, part of a series of auto tours prepared in conjunction with Sarasota County’s Centennial. My name is Harry Klinkhamer and I will be your tour guide on this journey. This tour will take you to some of the historically significant sites and tell some of the interesting stories related to this community.

Along with the interesting history, I will provide you with directions from stop to stop. The app will automatically tell you where to turn or stop and will start each story as you approach that destination. During your travels, be sure to follow all traffic laws. Obey speed limits so that you do not go past turns or stopping points before I can tell you to do so. Please also wait until your vehicle is stopped and in park before looking at the images on your screen.

If you need to stop at any point or return to a stop you missed, you may use the arrow buttons on the app to go forwards or backwards in the tour.

Finally, I would like to thank the generous sponsors who have made these tours possible. Thanks to Platinum sponsors Digisphere Marketing and Williams Parker Attorneys at Law for sponsoring all the tours and to Venice Heritage and Betty Intagliata for sponsoring this particular tour. Now please enjoy your travels through Venice history.

Stop 1: VENICE HISTORIC TRAIN DEPOT:

The land that became Venice was part of Bertha Palmer’s holdings. When she was not able to develop the city, she sold the lands to Dr. Albee. He in turn, sold it to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers or BLE, who were looking to recoup some investment losses.

This railroad depot was built by the BLE in 1927 for $47,500. The 50 x 400-foot station is built with heavy timbers and hollow clay block covered with stucco. The Depot had segregated waiting rooms, a ticket office, baggage room, and freight room. The Seaboard Airline Railroad brought investors, homebuyers, and seasonal vacationers to Venice for decades. The Kentucky Military Institute and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus also utilized the station. Passenger service was discontinued in the early 1970s and freight service in 1991.

The Venice Area Historical Society offers free tours of the depot,

When you are ready, exit the parking lot, proceed under the bridge, and turn left onto eastbound business access road for East Venice Avenue.

Leave the parking lot taking a slight right, going under the bridge and around the bridge abutments then turn left.

At Warfield Avenue turn right past the Venice Utilities and Dead End signs. Trust me, you can go there. Go to where the street ends and pull over on the right.

404 Warfield Ave N, Venice, FL

What is before you is all that remains of what was called the Negro Quarters in Venice. When the city was being built, the African-American workers employed by the George Fuller Construction Company lived in barracks in this area. After the Land Bust and Great Depression, many stayed on living here. In 1947, this area was designated as the only legal location for African-Americans to live in in the City.

For almost 25 years, people lived in wooden shacks without running water. The City and several organizations stepped in to assist. The city built a communal public bathroom and the Venice-Nokomis Woman’s Club and other groups supported a library and recreation center for the children. The recreation center also doubled as a non-denominational church operated by the A.M.E. Church. In 1950, the community raised support to build this Union Missionary Baptist Church that still cares for its flock today. For years, local organizations and religious groups pressured the city to improve conditions at the “Negro Quarters.” But improvements were dependent on the property owners—the Blackburns—to do so. By the late 1960s, the City worked with the Federal Housing Authority to create low-income housing and by 1970, most of the residents of this area were relocated to the Venetian Walk Apartment Complex you can see further back.

When you are ready, turn around and head back to Venice Avenue and turn right.

Proceed over the bridge on West Venice Avenue. Continue on West Venice Avenue past Business 41 Tamiami Trail.

Be mindful of pedestrians at intersections and other crosswalks and please obey speed limits downtown.

City Planner John Nolen intentionally designed Venice to have its main thoroughfare go through the downtown commercial area, through an upper end residential boulevard, and wind up at the sunny beaches of the Gulf. Originally the whole street was landscaped with orange trees.

Stay in the left lane and proceed to the intersection with Harbor Drive. It will be the next traffic light. Turn left onto Harbor Drive.

Turn right at the T-intersection and pull over where the road bends. (410 Palmetto Ct)

410 Palmetto Ct

The building on your right is the Granada Apartments. This complex was built in 1927. Harrison Gill of New York designed it and Lovering and Longbotham constructed it at a cost of $78,000. An additional $25,000 was spent on furnishings. The fourteen, 5- and 6-room apartments, face a central landscaped courtyard.

Dr. Fred Albee acquired it during the 1930s, and used it as a convalescent facility for his patients released from the Florida Medical Center. That was originally the Park View Hotel and stood where the current post office distribution center is on Venice Avenue. In 1944, it housed the nurses stationed at the Venice Army Air Base.

This is also a good place to talk about John Nolen and his plan of Venice. Nolen was a pioneer in the field of urban planning. He started a second career as a landscape architect after a teaching career. He realized the importance of not just designing landscapes, but of creating a complete city plan that included parks, municipal facilities, various housing types, commercial/retail, and industrial uses.

The Granada Apartments are an example of multi-family housing within walking distance to the downtown center. Nolen saw the need for housing close to where people worked and shopped so they could walk to and from those locations.

He was influenced by the Garden Movement in England that made the case for connecting people to green spaces. The park to your left is an example of residential access to green space.

Nolen’s influence can still be felt today, not only in the layout of Venice, but also in New Urbanism Communities such as Seaside, Florida; Cherry Hill Village, Michigan; and Canal Crossing in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Continue on Palmetto Court until it ends on Menendez Street.

605 W. VENICE AVENUE

The BLE invested heavily in Venice and encouraged many developers to purchase lots and sell homes on speculation. The home here at 605 West Venice Avenue is one of three homes built by Oren Ward. Homes like this one cost as much as $50,000 to build. This one was built for George T. Webb. He was a native of North Dakota and was the president of the Venice Company, served on the executive committee of the BLE Realty Corporation, and was vice president of the BLE Investment Company. All of which were subsidiaries of the BLE union.

He decorated the home in grand style although he only lived in it a couple of months out of the year. The house has four fireplaces and twenty rooms. It was constructed so that each second-floor bedroom had cross ventilation – a major consideration in the days before air conditioning. Mr. Webb’s fortunes declined during the Great Depression and he ended up as a pauper in Miami. When the BLE left Venice, the contents of the house were sold at auction, and the house sat vacant and was vandalized. Its final bills went unpaid.

When you are ready, cross Park Boulevard on Venice Avenue to the next intersection and turn left on Avenue Des Parques. It is a roundabout.

200 Nassau St.

In 1926, this was the first building constructed by the BLE in Venice and was known as the Hotel Venice. It was constructed in three months and it was described as rising “like an Italian Renaissance Palace in a sea of sand and scrub pine.” This wood frame stucco building was designed by Leon Gillette, whose firm, Walker & Gillette, supervised the development of the city. The courtyard fountain and planting beds were designed by Harold Heller, who along with Prentiss French and Gillette, served on the BLE’s Architectural Review Board.

The hotel had 100 rooms with adjoining baths, large windows, ventilating doors, and ceiling fans. It cost nearly half a million dollars to construct. It often held lavish parties. Imagine Anthony Lopez and his Orange Grove Serenaders entertaining people in the courtyard—the fountain flowing, and couples dancing, illuminated by orange lights in the trees.

When the BLE left in 1928, this building sat abandoned until it was leased and eventually purchased by the Kentucky Military Institute in 1932. You’ll learn more about them next on the tour.

When you are ready, continue south on Nassau Street and turn left onto Tampa Avenue.

The Kentucky Military Institute—or KMI—was a military school for boys founded in 1845. The school regularly spent the winter semester in Florida. When they were looking for a new winter home in the 1930s, Venice proved to be ideal. With the Venice Hotel—which you previously stopped at—and the San Marco Hotel empty, the school rented out these properties along with an annex building between them. The buildings served as classrooms, dormitories, faculty housing, and mess hall. Special trains from Kentucky brought the school down right after Christmas and sent them back right after Easter.

By 1940, the school purchased these buildings along with the Orange Blossom Garage. The garage was converted into a gymnasium and shooting range and today houses the Venice Theatre visible east of the San Marco. The parking lot you are in served as the parade grounds. Cadets practiced drills and marching on this open field, which drew people from as far away as Tampa to watch.

By the 1960s attendance began to wane at the school. The reaction to the Viet Nam War and a growing disinterest in military schools led to the closure of the winter campus in 1970, with the school closing entirely a year later.

Exit your vehicle and cross the street to the San Marco Building. Inside the lobby, you will find an exhibit that continues the story of the KMI and its influence on Venice.

At the other end of Centennial Park, there are restrooms and a drinking fountain. This is also a great opportunity to explore downtown Venice on foot. There are several interesting shops and restaurants on Venice Avenue, Tampa Avenue, and Miami Avenue.

When you are ready, circle back around and exit the park from whence you came. Then turn right onto Nokomis.

Travel on Nokomis for just under one mile. You will pass the William H. Jervey Jr. Venice Public Library, and the Venice Art Center. When you reach the end of Venice Regional Bayfront Hospital, you will turn left onto San Marco Drive.

Here once stood the Venice-Nokomis Presbyterian Drive-In Church. It was meant to accommodate fluctuations in attendees between year-round residents, tourists, and snowbirds. Designed by renowned architect Victor Lundy, the second floor was the pulpit while the first floor was classrooms.

The first worship in the new “drive-in” church was in March, 1954. Worshipers drove onto the grounds, parked facing the Worship Center, and affixed speakers to their cars. Once worshipers were in place, the glass doors were opened, and the service took place on the upper level. The young church got a boost the next year when Life Magazine ran a three-page spread on the outdoor church and its young pastor, Rev. Robert White, in its April 18, 1955, issue.

In the 1960s, Hurricanes Donna and Alma damaged it. Unable to insure the building any longer the church sold it and it was moved to another part of Florida to become a private residence. Further on down near the intersection of Cockrill and Firenze Avenue, Lundy also designed the Fellowship Hall. It is now the core part of the present sanctuary and not noticeable from the road.

When you are ready, continue on Cockrill to Firenze Avenue at the end of the Presbyterian Church complex, and turn left.

Park at the blue building on the right near the mailbox.

126 Firenze Ave E.

You are now parked in front of the Municipal Mobile Home Park Community Center. But before it was that, this served as the Officer’s Lounge for the Venice Army Air Base.

When the United States entered World War II, the Army was looking for locations to train pilots—this was before there was an Air Force branch of military service. In 1942, they acquired land south of Venice initially for a gunnery range, but decided instead to build an air base to train not just pilots, but mechanics to work on various fighter planes.

The Venice Army Air Base extended from where you crossed San Marco Drive to the current municipal airport, and from Tamiami Trail to the Gulf of Mexico. Around 5,000 military personnel were based here during the war. Nurses stayed at the Granada Apartments and many officers lived off base. The Florida Medical Center downtown became the Army hospital.

Pilots and mechanics trained on P-51 Mustangs, P-40 Warhawks, P-47 Thunderbolts, and P-39-Airacobras. The 14th Chinese Service Group also trained here and fought in the China-Burma-India theater. The air base also housed German POWs.

Along with their work and training, soldiers and officers enjoyed leisure time as well. The base supported a newspaper, church, and a baseball team. This building served the officers by providing relaxation, camaraderie, and entertainment. After the war, the military deeded the runways to the City of Venice, which were annexed into the city and became the Venice Municipal Airport in 1947. Most of the buildings were sold and moved off base or used for fire practice by the fire department. This building is the only original structure still in its original location.

When you are ready, turn around and head west on Firenze Avenue to Cockrill where you will turn left.

The Greatest Show on Earth once performed here in their own arena. Started in the late 19th Century, the Ringling Brothers Circus out of Wisconsin and the Barnum & Bailey Circus out of Connecticut merged to create the largest traveling circus in the U.S. In 1927 they moved their winter headquarters to Sarasota. When the circus transitioned from playing under the “Big Top” to playing in arenas, they needed more space to build a new home. In 1959, the City of Venice offered the Circus favorable terms to lease this land to build their practice arena and winter headquarters.

Along with the circus, a clown college was established to train clowns to perform with the three traveling shows. For thirty years, the circus trained in Venice at this arena. But as competition increased for entertainment options and public opinion over the treatment of animals rose, the circus began to decline. By 1991, it was time to negotiate a new lease with the city. By then, the local railroad line the Circus needed for travel was in disrepair without plans for fixing it. So they relocated to the Tampa area. The Circus had their final show in 2017.

Meanwhile, the circus arena—the only one of its kind—began to suffer. For a time, the arena was used as a restaurant and a venue for boxing events, but no one could make it profitable and it continued to deteriorate. In 2014, the City Council approved its demolition because of safety concerns due to its deteriorated state. Community efforts to repurpose the arena were not successful.

Today, Tito Gaiano runs his trapeze school nearby and the land is now being developed for a hotel and other businesses.

When you are ready to continue:
Field Avenue becomes Ringling Drive. Continue straight. And at the end, turn right on to Airport Avenue.

Continue straight on Ringling Drive to the end. Turn right onto Airport Avenue. Here is the airport that we mentioned earlier that was deeded to the city after World War II. Take the next right onto Avenida Del Circo.

Proceed to the traffic light at U.S. 41 Business, also known as the Tamiami Trail, and turn left or north.

Head north on the Tamiami Trail. This road was originally built in the late 1920s to connect Tampa and Miami. Many communities lobbied to have the trail come through their community. Venice was fortunate to have the road travel down here from Sarasota.Proceed to the second traffic light at Palermo Place, about 1 mile, and turn left. This intersection is just past the Venice Shopping Center on your right.

Proceed to the stop sign at Harbor Drive, cross Harbor Drive onto Alhambra Road and continue west.

615 AHLAMBRA ROAD

This house is known as the Herron House, not because the roofline looks like bird wings, but because the house is named for its first owner, Samuel Herron—spelled H-E-R-R-O-N. This home is a unique example of 20th Century mid-century modern architecture known as the Sarasota School of Architecture.

This style of architecture was popular in the 1950s and 1960s and a group of regional architects put a Florida spin on it. This style included more windows, often reaching from floor to ceiling, and open floor plans that visually connected the interior and exterior of the home.

This architectural style emphasized the connection of the house to its natural surroundings.

This house was designed by famed architect Victor Lundy in 1956. Its design warranted an article in the Architectural Record and won an Honor Award in the Custom-Built Category in 1959 from the American Institute of Architects.

Herron was impressed enough with Lundy’s work that he also hired him to design the Warm Mineral Springs Motel that still stands in North Port.

Turn right onto Galleon to head to our last stop.

Turn right onto Valencia Road.

Turn R onto Harbor Drive, carefully make the next L on Salerno.

On your L is Blalock Park and the Monty Andrews Arboretum. You may want to get out and walk around here. On the R is the Triangle building, an old inn. Turn R into parking lot. You’ve reached the Venice Museum and the end of your journey.

351 Nassau St S, Venice, FL 34285

The Venice Museum is housed inside the historic Triangle Inn Building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This structure was built in 1927 and originally stood two blocks north of here on a triangular shaped lot. It was designed as a boarding house, but also served as a single-family residence, a real estate office, an apartment building, and almost a parking lot.

When threatened with demolition in the early 1990s, the City relocated the building to this location and it became the city’s museum. The architecture embodies classic features of Italian Renaissance Revival design, so popular in the 1920s. Some of those features include arched triple windows, the tower feature, and the banding along the roofline. If you don’t notice these from where you are parked, it is because the museum entrance is on the side of the original building’s layout. The historic front entrance faces Nassau Street.

If it is open and you have time, stop in to tour the museum.

Exhibits include a history of Venice, Dr. Fred Albee, other changing displays, as well as a collection of fossils found locally. Admission is free.

I hope you enjoyed this driving tour of Venice. You can learn more about Sarasota history during this centennial year by taking other tours available on this app.

Thank you for spending your time with me today. Get out and explore more on foot and safe travels on the rest of your journey.