wcw JANUARY 2024

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Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation’s
“Six to Save” Properties
Illustrating the urgent need to save historic resources from demolition in Sarasota County
The Sarasota
Alliance for
Historic Preservation
(SAHP)
announced its
2023 “Six to Save’’ properties
at an event held in November
at the Philippi Crest
Community Clubhouse in
Sarasota.
Now in its fourth year,
this initiative highlights the
urgent need to save historic
resources from demolition
in Sarasota County. The
program was launched
in 2020 by Harry Klinkhamer, who
was then the chair of the History &
Preservation Coalition of Sarasota
County, and is now spearheaded
by SAHP, in collaboration with
the Coalition. Members of the
community nominate properties they
are concerned about by filling out a
nomination form on SAHP’s website.
A Six to Save committee then reviews
and selects six properties to be
spotlighted that year.
“The Six to Save list is a
springboard for an education and
advocacy effort designed to raise
public awareness of the uncertain
future for these historic resources.
It’s also designed to invite residents
and community leaders to be part
of a collaborative effort to find
alternatives to demolition,” said Erin
DiFazio, SAHP’s program director.
She noted that the program
has been instrumental in raising
awareness and has aided in the
progress toward preservation of
multiple properties, including the
Snook Haven House, the South Gate
Community Center, Herald Square,
and the Caples mansion.
DiFazio explained that the 2023
properties were selected based on “the
urgency of impending threat, coupled
with the significance of the resource.”
At the event, SAHP leaders
Erin DiFazio, program director of the
Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation,
addresses the audience at the 2023
Six to Save event
1 2
presented a contribution of
$250 toward the restoration
of the Phillippi Crest
Community Clubhouse to
board chair Joel Palombo.
They also recognized Jesse
White of Architectural
Salvage board for his
offer to donate salvaged
lumber and materials
for restoration, and to
the photographer Brian
3
Jones who donated his
photography services to
capture each of the six properties
chosen for the 2023 Six to Save list.
Lorrie Muldowney, the president of
SAHP, invited Marty Hylton, president
of Architecture Sarasota, to speak
briefly about their new program
“Moderns that Matter” and talked about
the importance of this advocacy work.
The 2023 Six to Save:
1
Hotel Venice, 200 Nassau Street,
N., Venice
2
Colson Hotel For Negroes,
1425 8th Street, Sarasota
3
Waldman Building, 533-539
S. Washington Blvd., Sarasota
4
13 Main, 13 Main Street,
Osprey
5
McAlpin Home, 1530 Cross St.,
Sarasota
6
I.M. Pei dorms at
New College of Florida
The 2023 Six to Save committee members
are: Harry Klinkhamer (manager
of Historical Resources for the City of
Venice); Dave Baber (SAHP vice-president);
Kara Scott (SAHP board member);
Erin DiFazio (program director,
SAHP); Kittie Kelly, board member of
the Central Cocoanut National Historic
District Neighborhood Association;
Frank Wright, president, Venice Area
Historical Society; and Greg Dickinson,
president, Historical Society of
Sarasota County.
The Sarasota Alliance for
Historic Preservation is a
nonprofit organization whose
mission is to “Preserve and
Enhance our Historic Places.”
SAHP was incorporated in
1985 in an attempt to save architect
Dwight Baum’s El Vernona
Hotel in downtown Sarasota.
The Alliance, a membership-driven
organization, is comprised of
more than 500 residents, business
owners, visitors, artists,
architects, engineers, historians,
builders, archaeologists, Realtors,
planners, designers, and
writers working together to preserve
and encourage others to
preserve - not only the remaining
significant landmarks - but also
the contributing
structures 5
that define
Sarasota
County.
For more
information,
visit
www.
Preserve
SRQ.org.
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Photos by Hugh Devlin
12 WEST COAST WOMAN JANUARY 2024