Sarasota Woman's Club

About this property

The Sarasota Woman's Club (also known as the Florida Studio Theatre) is a historic woman's club in Sarasota, Florida. It is located at 1241 North Palm Avenue. It was founded in 1913 and on January 18, 1985, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The clubhouse is now home to the Keating Theater, the mainstage of Florida Studio Theatre. The Sarasota Woman’s Club started as a meeting of 63 charter members on April 14, 1913. In 1914 Sarasota was incorporated as a city and after two years of club activities, the cornerstone was laid at their new clubhouse at the corner of Cocoanut and Palm on January 1, 1915. As part of the ground-breaking celebrations, the first club president, Alice Guenther, gave a short speech. That year, on its second anniversary, the club had 200 members, owned a lot, and had moved into their newly built $4,500 clubhouse. Created by architect H.N. Hall and contractor George Lysat, the building is Tudor Revival. Part of the clubhouse was dedicated to housing Sarasota’s library. The Woman’s Club kept it in operation with fundraisers until 1940 when it became public. After 38 years of being open, the clubhouse was rededicated in 1953 after being remodeled and redecorated by Naomi Widrig, a club member. The occasion was marked by a musical number and remarks by A.B. Edwards, who had been the mayor when the club was first opened, and Mrs. Joseph Halton, the first Club vice president. Mrs. Halton, wife of a well-respected local doctor, was among the first to act in the space that is now the main stage of the Florida Studio Theatre in a play called “Sunbonnets.” “Sunbonnets” was performed first at the clubhouse (the general public could get in for $0.25 and members’ admission was free) and then transferred to the Hover Arcade Theatre for a repeat performance. In 1977, the same year it became the home of the Florida Studio Theatre, the clubhouse received Historical Site status with the presentation of a Historical Marker. In response to the newly founded Woman’s Club, the Sarasota Sun conducted a poll asking a few “prominent citizens” their opinion of the new organization. Then-Mayor Higel praised the Woman’s Club saying, “Best move ever made here. More attention given to their orders issued than to those of any other body.” Other government officials reacted differently, with Marshall Hodge reported to have said, “The Woman’s Club is all right; but I have troubles of my own,” with City Clerk Houle adding, “It’s a terror to the men.” In the same Sarasota Sun article, the husband of president of the club Mrs. Alice Gunther said, “A great institution for the town, but hard on the individual in my case, as I expect to be buttonless, sockless and half-fed for the next year.” In a similar vein, Sarasota resident Walter P. Bryan offered his opinion, “I have been married so recently I dare not say what I think.”

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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