Visit Paul Rudolph’s Riverview High School Masterpiece In Sarasota
April 25, 2009
SARASOTA - If you are an admirer of Modern architecture, go by and visit Paul Rudolph’s Riverview High School in Sarasota before it is torn down.
Riverview, built in the International Style, is located just off Route 41 on Proctor Road near Swift. Sadly, the Sarasota School Board decided they had to demolish the school in 2008. We can’t hate the Sarasota School Board too much for the decision, however wasteful. Sarasota County, after all, erected the building to rave international notices in 1958, and reaped the glory and fame therein.
Students and former students will gather Saturday, May 23 for a goodbye party to the building. While it is a massive waste to rip it down, we at least hope something amusing is done with the pieces, like being recycled into fishing reefs. If you can’t get there May 23, it will be up for a number of months as the school moves into its new building, which is the size and scale of a modern university.
If you are planning to see Rudolph’s masterpiece before it is recycled into fishing reefs (or whatever happens to buildings these days), you best get on on the plane to Sarasota.
While here, learn more about the Sarasota School. See www.sarasotaarchitecturalfoundation.com. In addition, you might also rent a Sarasota School styled house or take a tour of modern houses in this city from broker and guide Martie Lieberman. See www.modernsarasota.com. You can also read about the history of Sarasota modern at Paul Rudolph’s Beach Cottages.
Finally, read about Rudolph’s life at www.paulrudolph.org.
It is sad that after so many years of thoughtless additions and renovations, the neglect this building has suffered has become the excuse for tearing down a signifcant piece of Sarasota’s past. You can’t blame the residents and students who don’t remember what the building looked like in its heyday – when it brought fame to the community in the late 1950′s. Its harder to look past the decision of the school board, who rather than support adaptive reuse of the building decided a parking lot was more economical. Demolition by neglect is defined as the destruction of a building through abandonment or lack of maintenance. This has been going at Riverview High School for years – as evidenced by stories from current students and parents. Years from now – when the new school is no longer “new” – will it have brought the same recognition to Sarasota as Rudolph’s building did?
How sad that people don’t care for mid modern design
I WENT TO RIVERVIEW H.S., MY STEP KIDS DID TOO. I REALLY HAVE FOND MEMORIES OF THE PLACE. I’M SURE SOME FAMILY MEMBERS OR FRIENDS OF THOSE THAT MADE THE DECISION TO LET THE PLACE FALL APART BE THE EXCUSE FOR THEM TO TEAR IT DOWN AND REPLACE IT WITH SOMETHING NEW AND BIG, AND VERY EXPENSIVE. IT WILL RUN OVER BUDGET, AND THOSE WITH THEIR HANDS IN THE PIE WILL COME OUT RICHER AND PROUD THAT THEY CAN STILL PUT THIS KIND OF STUNT OFF AND GET AWAY WITH IT. SHAME ON THEM, I LEARNED BETTER.
[...] be in Sarasota Sunday June 21 for an open house to see a Paul Rudolph gem. No, not the remnants of Riverview High School but the Cohen [...]