The House:
"The 36,000 square-foot house sits on a waterfront site 1,000 feet long and 3,000 feet deep. It is five stories tall and has a full basement. Constructed from terra cotta “T” blocks, concrete and brick, it is covered with stucco and terra cotta and embellished with glazed tile. Decorative tile medallions, balustrades and ornamental cresting in soft red, yellow, green, blue and ivory highlight the pink patina of the stucco and terra cotta exterior.
Decline:
When John Ringling died in December of 1936 he bequeathed his estate to the people of Florida, but legal wrangling with his creditors went on for a decade until the property finally passed unencumbered to the state. During this time Ca’ d’Zan remained closed. Finally, in 1946 it was reopened to the public.
But the care that older buildings require was neglected due to a lack of funds, and by the late 90’s, Ca’ d’Zan was in such a state of disrepair it was used as the location for Miss Havisham’s decrepit mansion in the 1996 Hollywood remake of Charles Dickens’ classic Great Expectations.
Restoration:
That same year the mansion was closed so that a comprehensive restoration and conservation project could be undertaken. Much of the marble terrace had to be replaced, balusters and railings along the waterfront were repaired and replaced, as were many of the decorative terracotta ornaments reminiscent of Venice. Even a new roof was installed.
Archival photos were used to determine the original look of each room. Paint samples were used to match the original colors of the walls. Original paintings and furnishings were retrieved from storage and restored. The ceiling murals by Willy Pogany, the set decorator of the Zeigfeld Follies, were restored by a group of international conservators. Original moldings were cleaned and repainted. Carpets and rugs were conserved or replaced. Even clothing from the Ringlings’ wardrobe was returned to closets and drawers. In 2004 and 2005, the home’s original gate house was restored as the entrance of the new Visitor Pavilion, making the welcome visitors receive more authentic and true to the original design.
Finally completed in 2002, at a cost of $15 million, ten times that of the original house, Ca’ d’Zan was happily returned to its former glory and reopened as the grandest mansion on Florida’s Suncoast. Today it stands as one of America’s architectural treasures." Text source: (
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Taken from Wikipedia -
"Cà'd'Zan, a Mediterranean Revival residence in Sarasota, Florida, was the winter home of Mable and John Ringling (roughly translated the name means "house of John"). He was a circus magnate, a developer, and art collector. Lovers of the Venetian esthetic, the Ringlings chose the site overlooking Sarasota Bay for its vista, which reminded them of the lagoon of their favorite city. The Ringlings had been renting the residence of Mary Louise and Charles N. Thompson on their extensive Shell Beach parcel, and decided to purchase some of the land to build a permanent winter headquarters that would include a residence on the bay and a museum for their extensive art and artifact collection. An art school was planned to abut the museum, but it never was built. Mable's rose garden was the first completed portion of the complex.
Details of the Cà d'Zan bay front facade, also showing a portion of the tower on the eastern elevationArchitectural details of the house reflect influences ranging from the Venetian Doge's palace to the tower of the first Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. Items collected by the couple during their international travels were featured in the residence.
The design of the residence was commissioned from New York architect Dwight James Baum in 1924 and it was built by the Sarasota developer, Owen Burns. The work was completed in 1926, as the Florida boom collapsed and the bank failures that would lead to the crash of 1929 began. The name of the residence is Venetian for House of John. The original cost to build the home was $1.5 million. Adjusting for inflation, that converts to approximately $16 million in 2006 dollars.
The residence was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s. It is among the adjacent Shell Beach structures listed together as a historic district, which includes the Ellen and Ralph Caples residence, the John and Mable Ringling Museum, Cà d'Zan, the Hester Ringling Landcaster Sandford residence, and the Edith and Charles Ringling residence.
The residence was restored in 2002 under the direction of Bill Puig. Most details of the original construction and decoration were restored faithfully except some of the interior color schemes." Text Source: (
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