Home of the Month: 'Pretty in Pink'

The prettiest corner in town? It may well be where Holly runs into Broughton, up in the Whitfield neighborhood. There, five old Spanish houses cluster together, shaded by enormous old trees, standing pretty much as they have for the past 88 years.

And if the houses seem related, they are. Ralph Twitchell, the founder of the Sarasota School of Architecture, designed each of them. But they are anything but the modernist style for which Twitchell later became famous. These are in the classic 1920s Spanish Revival tradition, as interpreted by a master architect.

The house at 7316 Broughton St. is the smallest and simplest, but it may be the prettiest of all. It has an unornamented, almost rustic look, rather like a farmhouse in Andalusia — or Provence, for that matter. The sunlight filtering through the tree branches lends the soft, colorful atmosphere of an impressionist painting.

The home has had only three owners in its almost 90 years. The first was a remarkable woman named Mabel Hodge, who traded real estate, did people’s taxes, wrote plays and entertained the town’s other Mable, Mrs. John Ringling, to tea and discussions about their mutual obsession, gardening. Then came the Woodhull family, who owned the house from 1968 until 1985, when Victoria and Timothy Creighton purchased it. 

The Creightons, particularly Victoria, see the home as more than a place to live. Preserving its spirit has become a hobby, an obsession, almost a way of life.

“I should have lived in the 1920s,” Victoria Creighton says, looking around at the nostalgic world she has created.

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What’s remarkable about the old Hodge house is the way the interior lives up to the promise of its vintage exterior. It has never been remodeled in the usual sense of the word, just very carefully maintained.

“I don’t want granite counter tops,” Creighton says. “I don’t want an open plan.”

When she recently hosted a Kentucky Derby party, she had to borrow a TV. Her tiny little set wasn’t big enough.

The fact that so many of the original features were there, intact and functioning gave Creighton an unprecedented opportunity to step back in time. The lighting fixtures, including classic 1920s sconces (Creighton searches for period-appropriate light bulbs) are, for the most part, what was originally installed.
The ground level retains the original tile floors, a scaled-down version of Saltillo tile that has weathered and aged beautifully. The second floor has the original hardwood floors, which complement the oak paneling in the front hall and stairwell. Both bathrooms have their original tile, and the living room fireplace, with its Craftsman-style surround and wooden mantel, has survived intact. There’s even a little shelf for a telephone on the stairway landing.

There have been some changes, of course. The green shag carpeting of the Woodhull era has been removed, along with some 1970s paneling. The windows have been replaced by new soundproof versions, courtesy of the nearby airport authority, which tore down scores of homes in the area back in the 1990s as part of an ill-advised attempt at noise control. (The noise today, by the way, is not as bad as you might think. Residents say that after a week or so you don’t really notice it.) And at some time in the past a low wall was built in front of the house, making an enclosed garden that completes the picture. The butler’s pantry has been converted into a tiny family room, and a back porch is now a much-needed laundry room.

Though it is not a large house — just more than 2,000 square feet — it was originally meant to be run by servants. There are chauffer’s quarters in the detached garage. And in an ironic twist of fate, the surprisingly large maid’s room on the ground floor, complete with beautifully tiled bath and walk-in closet, could easily function today as the master bedroom.

The home would be notable on its own, but coupled with its spectacular garden it becomes a showstopper. The plot is well more than half an acre and is anchored by a grouping of giant Cuban laurels. Wandering Jew is used extensively as a groundcover, and masses of over-scaled snake plants, along with ginger and night-blooming cirrus, add drama and an authentic 1920s feeling. As you wander the grounds, enjoying the breeze from the bay just a block away, you can’t help but wonder if Mable Ringling had a hand in planning this garden. After all, according to old documents, she originally owned the land on which the house was built.

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Creighton is putting the house on the market with a somewhat heavy heart, because it has been such an important part of her life. She has combed local secondhand stores and flea markets for furniture and art that complement it and has not been above snatching some of her best finds from the curb, left out for the trash collectors.

The guiding force in all this has been Mabel Hodge, the home’s original owner. Over the years Creighton has collected things that belonged to Mabel, including a candlestick and a monogramed silver spoon she found out in the yard. She even has a copy of one of Mabel’s plays, entitled “The King’s Temper,” published in 1935. This memorabilia she displays in the front hall.

But the display is informal and hands-on. “I don’t want people to feel like this is a museum,” she says. “I want it to be what it is — a warm, friendly home.”

7316 Broughton St. is priced at $389,000. For more information, call Bill Mallon of Keller Williams at 932-7124.