Ringling Towers (Sarasota, Florida)

Photograph Copyright © 1991-2009 Michael Fenichel

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This was an historic presence in downtown Sarasota, along the Tamiami Trail (or less fondly, US 41/301). Built by the circus magnate, John Ringling (of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum, and Bailey Circus), recent years had not been kind to this tropical monument to the Ringlings. (Nearby, however, the Ringling Mansion and Museum is still quite a treasure.) Sometime in the mid 1990's, this historic hotel, in forlorn disrepair, and seen by residents as an eyesore and developers as an opportunity, well... it was demolished. Maybe I'm the only one that misses it, but here's what this bit of history looked like in the 1990's. For the record.