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 debate is often dominated by affordability and supply, but a new collaboration between Brickworks and acclaimed architecture firm Kennedy Nolan argues the conversation should also focus on the quality and longevity of the homes being built.

The project, titled Our Next Neighbourhood, examines how suburban housing could evolve in response to shrinking block sizes, rising energy costs, increasing density and changing family structures.

Rather than proposing luxury dream homes, the initiative focuses on what its creators describe as achievable suburban housing models that are more flexible, sustainable, and better suited to modern Australian life.

Brickworks commissioned Kennedy Nolan to investigate what suburban housing might look like if “design, long-term liveability and enduring materials were placed at the centre of the conversation”.

The result is two housing concepts, known as the Street Terrace and Canopy Terrace, which explore higher-density living while maintaining access to green space, natural light and privacy.

The designs incorporate adaptable floorplans that can evolve as family needs change, along with passive design principles intended to reduce reliance on mechanical heating and cooling.

Brett Ward, General Manager of Marketing at Brickworks, said the company wanted to broaden the discussion around housing beyond simply increasing supply.

“Much of the housing conversation today is understandably focused on supply and affordability, but there is an equally important discussion to be had about the quality and longevity of the homes we build,” he said.

“We wanted to explore how thoughtful design, combined with durable, resilient materials, could create homes that not only function well today, but continue to support Australian families and communities long into the future.”

Kennedy Nolan said the project was partly inspired by concerns that contemporary housing often struggles to adapt to changing household structures and environmental pressures.

The architects said innovation in suburban housing was “essential” to address changing family groupings, energy use, urban heat island effects and growing disconnection from place.

According to the design team, the concepts draw on lessons from some of Australia’s most influential housing projects while seeking to create neighbourhoods with stronger links to landscape, community and local identity.

Rachel Nolan, founder of Kennedy Nolan, said the practice saw an opportunity to reimagine suburban housing as something “more connected to our climate, our landscape, our communities and our Australian identity”.

The project comes as policymakers, developers and planners continue searching for ways to deliver more housing without sacrificing liveability, neighbourhood character or long-term sustainability.

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.

Brickworks has enlisted acclaimed architecture studio Kennedy Nolan to explore how homes could become more adaptable, energy-efficient and connected to community.