DeMarcay Hotel - Sarasota, FL
N 27° 20.104 W 082° 32.584
17R E 347349 N 3024491
The historic DeMarcay Hotel, located in Sarasota, Florida, was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on March 22, 1984.
Waymark Code: WMJFPT
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 11/12/2013
Views: 3
The following information is from the
Florida Division of Historical Resources website:
"DEMARCAY HOTEL S. Palm Ave. 1922. Mission Style. 2 stories, masonry, stuccoed, 5 bays, ogee-arch windows above 1st and 5th bay on 2nd floor. Part of a complex which included the Mira Mar Hotel and Apartment complex. Private. N.R. 1984."
The following additional information is from the Sarasota History Alive! website:
"The DeMarcay Hotel, a two-story rectangular-plan Mission Style structure, located at 27 South Palm Avenue was built by general contractor, W.R. Carman. He also constructed the adjacent Mira Mar Apartment complex. Ground was broken for the extensive undertaking on October 5, 1922, and Mr. Carman accepted the challenge to either complete the project, or to suffer financial penalties.
The architectural detail of the DeMarcay Hotel resembles the Mira Mar Apartments. Mission Revival Style elements, including shaped parapets, viga rafter ends and ogee-arched windows with label lintels are similar to those seen in the Mira Mar Apartment complex. Horizontal and vertical strips of wood intersect to create a checkered pattern, which is embellished with wood cut-out quatrefoils - the intersecting slats are used at the transoms of the arched entrances located at the first and fifth bay of the DeMarcay and reoccurs at the small alley entrance which connects it with 37 South Palm Avenue. The entire block frontage was connected by a cantilevered wood canopy or marquee which protected the shop fronts of the stores located at ground level. Mr. Ralph C. Caples (representing Mr. McAnsh) petitioned the City Council to widen by five feet the sidewalks in front of the complex.
The 1923-1924 Sarasota City Directory lists the structure as #207, "Mira Mar Apartments." By 1926, the site is listed as the "DeMarcay Hotel with the DeMarcay Café located to the south at 211 Palm Avenue South." An advertisement which appeared in the local press of 1924 listed the DeMarcay's Mira Mar Café as "positively the finest café in Florida." According to the 1936 City Directory the hotel became the "Palm Hotel," with Mrs. Geneva Wrahse as manager."