Jamie McPherson and Tra Raines’ Spanish Eclectic Centennial Home is one of nine homes featured on the South Poinsettia Park Neighborhood’s Centennial Home tour. Wet your whistle and sign up to join us for this festive celebration!

 

The event is scheduled for Sunday, March 2, 2025 from 11 am to 3 pm.  The Historic Home Tour will be followed by a private “birthday party” for South Poinsettia park residents from 3:00-5:00 pm.  If you are interested in touring the 9 historic homes you will find all the information on our new SPPNA website: www.SPPNA.org (http://sppna.org/).  We ask all attendees to register in advance …enjoy a “day of camaraderie in the past” with a charming Tudor, Tuscan delights, cottages and surprises galore!   

 

1864 Clematis Street was designated a historical home by the Historical Preservation board in January of 1993.  It has been coined the “Van Arsdale House”. The home was built in Desota Park in the 1920’s by Charles Van Arsdale- known for his eclectic Spanish revival homes during the Spanish style housing boom in Sarasota. The melding of numerous styles incorporating Spanish, colonial, byzantine, Moorish, mission and Italianate architectural elements giving this bungalow flair!

 

The original brick fireplace with decorative tile and tile hearth is preserved in the living room. The lot directly to the east of the property was originally part of the property and housed a tennis court!

 

Bet you didn’t know that many of the homes constructed within Desota Park during the 1920s were the homes of early prominent Sarasota residents including Doug Àrnest and Lamar Dozier, both early Sarasota city attorneys; Frank Logan, a prominent building contractor at the time; and Taylor Scott, the General Manager of Sarasota’s first telephone company, the Peninsular Phone Company. George Smith, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey manager, resided in this home in the 1930’s.  Hail to our Circus roots!

 

Back to the present!  Jamie and Tra, originally hail from Atlanta, Georgia. They moved to Sarasota permanently in October 2023 after living the resort life-style in both Highlands, N.C. and Sarasota.  Tra is with Compass Real Estate real-estate and Jamie is an interior designer practicing for 25 years.  Selling and staging together works for this dynamic duo of 24 years.  Immersion into the community is what it is all about!   Jamie is the secretary, web master, keeper of face-book and insta-gram for the South Poinsettia Park Neighborhood Association as well as an essential member of the Centennial Celebration team.   There is no task too big for this twosome!  Design and installation of their own garden and home “res-erection” is right up their alley.

 

After removing running bamboo, a tree size pitch apple, a jungle of Lady Palms as well as a hodge-podge of groundcovers the lovely features of this structure can now be clearly enjoyed.  A sculptural aged Lyngustrum and two massive “Dr. Seuss-like” dracaena ‘ trees’ add an anchor to the new palms, succulent and cacti plantings.  Control and structured beds are tied together with grass, pavers and boulders. Texture and color-shades of green- are well suited to this style home. They have chosen easy maintenance smaller scale architectural plantings bringing this charming home into the modern age!  Most importantly, water mitigation catch basins and drainage have proven to be well worth the investment…the home weathered the Trifecta-Debby, Helene and Morton unscathed despite the home’s age!

 

The spa like pool area and casita offer the couple and their guests a quiet haven.   Their pooch “Lil’man” enjoys soft, comfy, and cozy spots in and out of doors!

 

Thank you Tra and Jamie for a sneak peek! Join us-you will receive a written guide and Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation docents will give you a nostalgic tour of the chosen nine. Those who attend will receive a detailed map of the 29 heritage homes in our neighborhood… you can “Stroll” by these other homes at your convenience.   Let’s embrace and enjoy the history and charm of South Poinsettia Park together!