Umbrella House Tour
Saturday, October 24, 2026
11:00am-12:00pm
1300 Westway Drive, Sarasota FL 34236
Celebrate 100 Years of Sarasota School: Paul Rudolph, with a tour of the Umbrella House (1953).
Tour led by Dr. Christopher Wilson, Scholar in Residence, Architecture Sarasota
Street parking is available along Westway Drive near the house.
ABOUT Umbrella House
In 1953, developer Philip Hiss commissioned Paul Rudolph to design a spec home as a physical advertisement for his concept of "Tropical Homes" and his new development of modernist residences, Lido Shores. The dominant feature of the house is the “umbrella,” giving the house its colloquial name. The shade structure is an expansive awning designed to modulate the intense subtropical sun of Southwest Florida's Gulf Coast and unite the pool and home complex under one cohesive structural gesture. The original umbrella, lost during a storm in the 1960s, was carefully reconstructed in 2015 and received multiple awards for preservation and rehabilitation from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation and the AIA.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Photo Courtesy of Anton Grassl / Esto