Mansion's landscape gets a boost

Our recent feature package on landscape architecture ("Respect for the Land," May 9) mentioned some of the interesting spaces that add beauty to a naturally beautiful region.

One of them is the courtyard at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, designed by Fort Lauderdale landscape architect Frederic B. Stresau in 1952. It reminds well-traveled visitors of palace gardens in Europe.

Nearby, John Ringling's Cà d'Zan mansion also has some lovely landscape architecture, notably Mable's Rose Garden, and it is getting some more. The south lawn of the mansion, leading to the large Cor-Ten steel sculpture "Colossus," by Alfredo Halegua, has been somewhat nondescript until now. The area is being relandscaped, thanks to a $1,105,000 grant by philanthropist David F. Bolger.

The main feature is a walkway, lined with royal palms, along Sarasota Bay that leads to a small park with benches at the south border of the 66-acre estate (see photo on page 8). The project will include seating, landscaping and lighting. David W. Young of Sarasota is the landscape architect. Willis A. Smith Construction is doing the heavy lifting.

"The waterfront is an important component of the museum experience," said Bolger in a statement released by the museum. "My gift will create a place of tranquility where museum visitors will be able to sit and enjoy the beauty of the landscaping and the bay, and contemplate life and their place in it."

Just like good landscape architecture should.

The project is the first phase of a larger landscaping improvement plan with the goal of creating outdoor spaces that museum visitors will find inviting.

A paved square at the south end of the mansion will be available for social events.

The project should be complete in late June.

Bolger is the founder and chairman of Bolger & Co., a real estate and investment firm in Ridgewood, N.J. His Bolger Foundation has made $70 million in philanthropic donations since 2000, benefiting such organizations as InStride Equine Assisted Therapy in Nokomis, Sarasota Memorial Hospital and Historic Spanish Point in Osprey, as well as a long list of beneficiaries in New Jersey. He started giving to charity at the age of 15, donating money he earned from delivering newspapers and shoveling coal and snow.

Now that is being a role model.

Wetherington honored

Speaking of charitable givers, longtime Sarasota home builder Lee Wetherington was honored by the Sarasota County Commission last week.

Wetherington's success as a contractor since 1974 has enabled him to contribute to a number of charitable organizations, the Boys & Girls Clubs primary among them. The commission's proclamation notes that the Wetherington Scholarship Fund has provided $131,724 to local students, while his Lee Wetherington Foundation has provided nearly $793,000 to youth-related programs, facilities and maintenance at the Boys & Girls Clubs, as well as Oscar Scherer Park and United Cerebral Palsy.

The proclamation also notes that Wetherington "assists Sarasota non-profits, local amenities and important causes by making significant in-kind contributions to projects, such as a public-private partnership with Sarasota County and the Friends of the Fruitville Public Library for the creation of the Reading Garden at the Library," and the Lee Wetherington Boys & Girls Club on Fruitville Road, as well as an update of the Roy McBean Boys & Girls Clubs.

Google's amazing archive

If you're interested in history of any kind, have you tried the Google News Archive?

Launched in its current form in September 2008, this is revolutionary. In the past, researchers had to spend hours and days digging through microfilm and paper files searching for information on a particular topic. The problem is that often, they don't know the date of a news report, or if it even exists.

But with the online Google News Archive, all you need is the subject -- the "who" or "what" -- and not the "when."

You just need a computer and Internet access. Search for "Google News Archive," (or go right to www.news.google.com/archivesearch), type in the subject, and in 0.28 seconds or so, you will see a timeline of when the subject was mentioned in newspaper accounts. Then click on the timeline to see a list of newspaper pages from that decade (if scanned).

I showed this to Georgetown professor Nicholas Paley, who was in Sarasota last week researching a book on public schools designed by Sarasota architects in the 1950s. I searched for "Paul Rudolph Sarasota," and in seconds, we were reviewing a 1958 Sarasota Journal article on Rudolph's plans for his now-famous addition to Sarasota High.

As you look at a scanned newspaper, you can use the cursor to drag to other pages and see the other news of that day. This puts the research in historical context, Paley agreed.

We scrolled to page 1 of that paper and found a photo of a young Tim Seibert holding a rendering of the architect's proposed Siesta Beach Pavilion.

A better rate of sales

Finally, a positive note about real estate. According to Sarasota Association of Realtors statistics, 13.6 percent of houses listed for sale sold during April. In April 2009, the figure was 6.6 percent. For condos, the numbers were 10 percent in April and 4.7 percent a year ago.