Day 102 - January 11, 2013: The John and Mable Ringling Mansion and Museum

Who knew that the Ringling brothers, growing up in an average family in Wisconsin, built a circus empire from scratch and became some of the richest men in America by the 1920s? After they married, John and Mable Ringling fell in love with Sarasota, purchased the land on the key, and at one time owned up to 25% of the land where Sarasota sits today. They built a beautiful 30,000 square foot winter mansion named Ca' d'Zan (house of John) on 66 acres along the bay and later added a museum in order to house their massive art collection purchased while on their frequent trips to Europe.

They also located the Ringling Circus here during the winter, which brought many families to the area and contributed to Sarasota's growth. This estate was gifted to the state of Florida at John's death and is now managed by Florida State University.

This morning, we headed out to see the mansion and related art and circus museums and spent the entire day touring. The Ringlings loved Venice, Italy, and their home reflects the Venician and Moorish styles both in architecture and furnishings.

Ca' d'Zan

Tower suite and lookout

South side entrance

The mansion has a long seawall to the south where John kept his 125 ft yacht, which he used to entertain guests, and a 200 ft long patio overlooking the water. Anne is imagining herself to be one of the famous guests often invited here for a month or more at a time.

Patio and bay view

The inside is equally vast and beautiful, decorated with hand-painted walls and ceilings, tile floors, hand blown colored glass windows, and exquisite furniture from Europe.

There are two buildings housing museum artifacts of the Ringling Circus and describing its history. One contains restored vehicles used in the circus including the rail car John and Mable traveled in. The other contains the world's largest miniature circus, created over a period of 50 years by master model builder and philanthropist Howard Tibbals. This display, scaled at 3/4" per foot, covers a room the size of a basketball court, has hundreds of train cars and wagons, dozens of tents, and several thousand figures. It is a replica of what the circus looked like when in full operation during 1919 to 1938.

Restored circus wagon

Under the Big Top