Ringling Circus Brother Built This Newly Listed Florida House in 1918 Complete With a Speakeasy

A Sarasota, Florida, home built for one of the founders of the Ringling Brothers Circus is now up for sale, asking nearly $2.5 million.

The Gulf Coast home was built in 1918 for Alfred Ringling and his family as their “entertaining house,” according to listing agent Ryan Ackerman of Coldwell Banker Realty. A grander home where the family actually resided was built next door. Alfred Ringling, however, died in 1919 before he got to enjoy the property.

Because the home was built solely for entertaining and hosting guests, its main living space, designed as a ballroom, has 20-foot ceilings, and large bedrooms were built on the ground floor of the home. There’s also one very period-specific detail.

“The home was built during the Prohibition era, so there’s an area that was a speakeasy,” said Ackerman, who brought the home to the market in mid-March.

The speakeasy room is upstairs, with a slanted ceiling and a sink. It’s currently used as an art studio, though it could serve any function that’s needed by the next owners, whether that’s a home office or an additional bedroom.

There are many other original details, including the pine floors, baseboards and windows with hand-poured antique glass that open by a pulley system. There’s also original picture rails throughout, and the home’s paneled walls were made with the siding from the Ringling family’s train cars.

“All of the owners who have owned this home since Alfred Ringling have really kept true to the home in terms of its bones,” Ackerman said.

The home last traded hands in 2022, when Michele Vandendooren, founder of eye care company Low Vision Works, bought it for $1.6 million, according to records on PropertyShark.

Vandendooren said she felt a responsibility to preserve the historic home. “I see myself as a caretaker. It’s a home that deserves to be protected and loved,” she said in an email.

She “gently” modernized the home where needed, redoing the pool area and decking as well as the entire kitchen area, which includes the laundry room and a coffee bar, Ackerman said.

Located steps from the Sarasota Bay, the 4,782-square-foot home has five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and one partial bathroom . There’s a detached two-car garage, and the pool area also has a hot tub and a fire pit.

Alfred Ringling was the middle of seven brothers, though only five were involved with the circus, founded as the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows in 1884.

In 1919, the Ringling brothers acquired P.T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey’s circus to become the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which closed in 2017. The circus relaunched in 2023 without animal acts.

While the first iteration of the Ringling Brothers Circus was founded in Wisconsin, brothers John and Charles moved it to Sarasota. In the 1920s, John Ringling had an extravagant mansion built as his family’s winter retreat, known as Cà d’Zan.

It’s now a historical site that’s open to the public and is part of the Ringling Cultural Center, which also includes an art museum and a circus museum and is located just 2 miles south of Alfred Ringling’s home.

Australia’s housing market has reached a critical juncture, with home ownership and rental affordability deteriorating to their worst levels in decades, according to the McGrath Report 2026.

The annual analysis from real estate entrepreneur John McGrath paints a sobering picture of a nation where even the “lucky country” has run out of luck — or at least, out of homes.

New borrowers are now spending half their household income servicing loans, while renters are devoting one-third of their earnings to rent.

The time needed to save a 20 per cent deposit has stretched beyond ten years, and the home price-to-income ratio has climbed to eight times. “These aren’t just statistics,” McGrath writes. “They represent real people and real pain.”

McGrath argues that the root cause of Australia’s housing crisis is not a shortage of land, but a shortage of accessibility and deliverable stock.

“Over half our population has squeezed into just three cities, creating price pressure and rising density in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane while vast developable land sits disconnected from essential infrastructure,” he says.

The report identifies three faltering pillars — supply, affordability and construction viability — as the drivers of instability in the current market.

Developers across the country, McGrath notes, are “unable to make the numbers work” due to labour shortages and soaring construction costs.

In many trades, shortages have doubled or tripled, and build costs have surged by more than 30 per cent, stalling thousands of projects.

Need for systemic reform

McGrath’s prescription is clear: the only real solution lies in increasing supply through systemic reform. “We need to streamline development processes, reduce approval timeframes and provide better infrastructure to free up the options and provide more choice for everyone on where they live,” he says.

The 2026 edition of the report also points to promising trends in policy and innovation. Across several states, governments are prioritising higher-density development near transport hubs and repurposing government-owned land with existing infrastructure.

Build-to-rent models are expanding, and planning reforms are gaining traction. McGrath notes that while these steps are encouraging, they must be accelerated and supported by new construction methods if Australia is to meet demand.

One of the report’s key opportunities lies in prefabrication and modular design. “Prefabricated homes can be completed in 10–12 weeks compared to 18 months for a traditional house, saving time and money for everyone involved,” McGrath says.

The report suggests that modular and 3D-printed housing could play a significant role in addressing shortages while setting a new global benchmark for speed, cost and quality in residential construction.

Intelligent homes

In a section titled Weathering the Future: The Power of Smart Design, the report emphasises that sustainable and intelligent home design is no longer aspirational but essential.

It highlights new technologies that reduce energy use, improve thermal efficiency, and make homes more resilient to climate risks.

“There’s no reason why Australia shouldn’t be a world leader in innovative design and construction — and many reasons why we should be,” McGrath writes.

Despite the challenges, the tone of the 2026 McGrath Report is one of cautious optimism. Demand is expected to stabilise at around 175,000 households per year from 2026, and construction cost growth is finally slowing. Governments are also showing a greater willingness to reform outdated planning frameworks.

McGrath concludes that the path forward requires bold decisions and collaboration between all levels of government and industry.

“Australia has the land, demand and capability,” he says. “What we need now is the will to implement supply-focused solutions that address root causes rather than symptoms.”

“Only then,” he adds, “can we turn the dream of home ownership back into something more than a dream.”

Ringling Circus Brother Built This Newly Listed Florida House in 1918 Complete With a Speakeasy

Alfred Ringling commissioned the Sarasota house, now listed for $2.5 million, solely for entertaining and hosting guests.

The 2026 McGrath Report warns that without urgent reforms to planning, infrastructure and construction, housing affordability will continue to slip beyond reach for most Australians.

Need for systemic reform

Intelligent homes