The Hotel Venice was the first building constructed by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) in Venice in 1926. This 3-story, wood-frame building, designed in the Italian Renaissance style had 100 luxurious rooms. In 1984 it was restored and now serves as a...

This three-story, steel-reinforced, concrete block, stuccoed building was commissioned by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) as the 92 room San Marco Hotel with 13 shops on the ground floor. It was completed in the fall of 1926 after only 90 days of...

By the fall of 1927, Ira A. Hines had constructed this office and apartment building for an estimated cost of $22,000. Mr. Hines, described as “noted architect,” designed and built this structure for use as a “tea room and combination gift shop, antique room, drug...

This building was originally constructed to house a gasoline filling station, car storage garage, and five storefront shops. It was completed in the summer of 1927. Advertisements in the Venice News, the local paper, state that it housed the repair shop and the...

Completed in October 1926 for an estimated cost of $45,000, this building was to have five shops on the first floor and apartments on the second. The housing market was so limited in the new city that five apartments were rented before the building was completed. The...

This was the first commercial building constructed in Venice. It was completed in August 1926 and built of hollow clay tile and brick with steel reinforcing beams. It housed two retail stores on the first floor and several offices on the second floor. The original...

Originally constructed as a two-story building occupying three lots, it has been divided in half with each side assigned a different parcel-id by the Sarasota County Property Appraiser. Alterations to the street façade have obscured the architectural details...

Originally the site of Blate's of Venice Wearing Apparel, this building was constructed at a cost of $22,000. Later it housed Rice's Nestlewood Shop. It had two stores on the main floor and four apartments on the second. It was designed by architect Guy Johnson and...

The Ennes Arcade was completed in January 1927 at an estimated cost of $125,000. This building was owned by Stanton Ennes, the general manager of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) Realty Corporation. It was constructed of stucco-covered hollow tile and...

Originally intended to house a drug store, barber shop, haberdashery, and tea room, this was the second commercial building constructed in Venice. The front of the building was described as “decidedly a Venetian design” by the local representative of Walker and...

This two-story building was constructed in the fall of 1926 for $26,000. The ground floor was to house five stores with eight efficiency apartments on the second floor. It was designed by architect J.C. Humphrey of Sarasota in the Northern Italian Style architecture,...

This was one of several buildings owned by Mr. Estes in Venice. Construction of this building was started in September 1926. By 1927, it was the home of Venice Stationary Company, Meare’s Men’s Shop, and the construction firm of Latimer and Lee. During the 1940s, it...

This two-story building (pictured above on right) was owned by William E. Mohler and originally housed the Woolard Furniture Company and the J. T. Hardware Company. As was common during the 1920s, there were rental apartments on the second floor. Social notes in the...

During the second half of 1926, Harold W. Sawyer had this two-sided building constructed for an estimated cost of $20,000 to house his grocery and meat market. Besides the two store-fronts on the first floor, there were eight offices on the second floor. The Woodroffe...

In October 1926, Mrs. Louis L. Lawton announced the construction of this building at a cost of $15,000. It was designed by architect Harrison Gill and built by Carey & Walter of Plant City. It was described as a “Spanish design” with stucco-covered hollow clay...

This building was constructed in 1926 by L. M. Teal. Its first tenants were the Teal Barber Shop and the Venice Billiard Hall. In the 1930s, it was used as an elementary school. In 1946, the Stancil and Potts Garage occupied the building (probably in the rear). In...

This building was constructed in 1926 and named for its first tenant H. N. “Bud” Wimmers. He was a Cleveland-born veteran of World War I who was the assistant cashier for Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) Cooperative National Bank in Cleveland, Ohio. Wimmers...

Thomas Green of St. Petersburg constructed this building in 1926 for $85,000. Designed by the architectural firm of French and Gill, this stucco-covered clay tile and brick building had ten apartments, five stores, four offices, and a automotive repair station at the...

The depot was constructed in 1927 by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) at a cost of $47,500 in the Mediterranean Revival style of hollow clay blocks with stucco finish. The 400 foot x 50 foot station was framed of heavy timber hewn at the Brotherhood's...

The Lord-Higel House is the oldest existing structure in South Sarasota County. It was built by Joseph H. Lord in 1896 and was originally located in a 90-acre citrus grove just south of Roberts Bay. Originally built for his own use, Lord turned the house over to his...

The Banyan House was built in 1927 as a six bedroom, five bath home in the Northern Italian architectural style for Robert and Dorothy Marvin. Mr. Marvin was an engineer who managed the home department of The Venice Company, a subsidiary of the Brotherhood of...

This building was constructed in 1927 as a two-story rooming house or inn. It was specifically designed to house the lodging business and was not designed as a single family house. It was built by Mrs. Augusta Miner who moved to Venice from Chicago where she ran a tea...