Presentation on Music Quadrangle 'fires up' attendees
By Rachel Brown Hackney
Local preservationists working to save the original Paul Rudolph building at Riverview High School in Sarasota say they were pleased with the turnout last week at a fundraiser hosted by Northern Trust at its Ringling Boulevard offices.More than 60 people - including Sarasota County School Board member Carol Todd - heard a revised presentation by New York City architect Diane Lewis about her plans for transforming the building into the Riverview Music Quadrangle. The plans call not only for use of the structure by students but as a setting for nationally and internationally known musicians who could work as artists in residence.
When the school board voted on March 4 to give the Sarasota Architectural Foundation a three-month extension on its efforts to put together a viable plan for the Music Quadrangle, Todd was an enthusiastic supporter of the project. She initially proposed the board give the SAF a six-month extension, before staff said that would hamper the August 2009 completion date for the new school if the Rudolph building ultimately had to be demolished.
Referring to the April 2 event, former Sarasota Mayor Mollie Cardamone told the Pelican Press, "I believe that we educated a lot of people as to the importance of our job" - to save the Rudolph building. Lewis "dazzled the audience" with her vision and with her talk of the significance of the building as an example of the Sarasota School of Architecture, Cardamone added.
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