# Ca’ d’Zan - Threshold Question



## Skydog (Oct 11, 2020)

*Ca' d'Zan* is a Venetian Gothic revival residence in Sarasota, Florida, adjacent to the Sarasota Bay. The residence was the winter home of the American circus owner, developer and art collector John Ringling and his wife Mable.










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 original cost to build the home was $1.5 million.

So I will cut to the chase and note why I filed this under ask an expert for the time being - is the supposed construction photo below really from the original construction period in the 1920s? Or could it be from the massive restoration project started in the late 1990s and completed in the early 2000s? The mansion fell into disrepair after its initial roaring 20s run. Tons of mainstream sites cover all this history so no need to repeat here. 





I realize it could be a fake photo - but assuming it’s not - would seem somewhat convincing of its actual construction.

But then note the dismal demographics of Sarasota at the time. And take a gander at the ridiculous number of the architects prolific works. I’m this close to doing a full fledge thread on this beast - but wanted a sanity check first..


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## Sanctus Martinus (Oct 11, 2020)

To me, it looks like they took part of an existing structure and build upon it.

See also


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## Citezenship (Oct 11, 2020)

Sanctus Martinus said:


> To me, it looks like they took part of an existing structure and build upon it.
> 
> See also


I was also going to say that the top is not the same as the bottom.

The rebar is the giveaway, supposedly used a lot but not in a building like this me thinks as it looks very standardised and the concrete looks like it's made with a technique called shuttering(make a form and pour in concrete) which was not really used in a great way until after the invention of portland cement, not in use untill 1875ish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebar
https://www.google.com/search?q=wha.....69i57j33.10295j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Although there are some conflicting reports of this.

That black and white looks old but the building tech looks new, those concrete slabs look modern!

	Post automatically merged: Oct 11, 2020



Citezenship said:


> Sanctus Martinus said:
> 
> 
> > To me, it looks like they took part of an existing structure and build upon it.
> ...


Also the scaffold is wooden so who knows.


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