Living large at 'The Lodge'

East County resident transforms old clubhouse into a cultural mecca.

By Jessica Salmond
| 6:00 a.m. November 4, 2015

Longenecker's dream was to find a building full of history that he could renovate into his home. He searched the country but found a treasure he couldn't resist along the Braden River.

East County
Real Estate

Longenecker found several of the old association signs inside the building after he purchased it in 2002.

The ranch-style, one-level home is unremarkable from the outside and mostly hidden by tall plants and trees. The clay-brown color of the walls does not draw one’s eye.

Only an iron archway initiates one’s intrigue.

But when the door opens, you step into another realm, a natural habitat of wooden timbers and cultural idols.

Manatee Fish and Game Association

The Manatee-Sarasota Fish and Game Association was founded in 1935. It gathered local fishermen, hunters and environmental activists to address local conservation issues. In the past, the association played a large role in establishing Myakka State Park and was involved in the Save Our Snook initiative. The association is still active, but has dropped Sarasota from its name. It has about 100 members and now meets at the Palma Sola Botanical Gardens. It is still involved in the community: it’s the lead sponsor of the annual Ben Gullet Mullet Tournament and Fish Fry in Bradenton and is helping in the environmental restoration of Mariposa Key.

Roy “Chick” Parker, a west Bradenton resident and 40-year member of the association, remembered meeting at the clubhouse before the developments around it existed, when the property bordered pastures.

The clubhouse was built in 1940 by the association with help from a donation by a local member. It was expanded in 1970. The association stopped meeting at the clubhouse around 2000 and sold the property to Longenecker in 2002.

“We moved out because it cost too much to take care of it, and it was getting developed around it,” Parker said.

The space was rented out, too, for wedding receptions and other events. If a bad storm or hurricane was coming through the area, Parker said the organization opened up the clubhouse so residents could store things there.

“I never thought it would turn into a house, it’s great that they can do that,” Parker said. “It’s got quite a few feet for a home.”

Lynn Longenecker calls his home on Quonset Drive "The Lodge,” and has been working to develop the home’s interior design since 2002.

It’s the first time the building has been used as a home. It had been a commercially-zoned plat.

In its former life, the Lodge was a hub of activity for Marineland, the old neighborhood sitting along the Braden River near Linger Lodge Road. The Manatee-Sarasota Fish and Game Association used the building as a clubhouse, a banquet hall, a restaurant and a fishing camp to members.

Longenecker found a few of the association’s old signs and even a few old menus from the club’s special events, such as Taste of Florida.

“People came in here to get a grouper sandwich for $2.99,” he said.

The original building was constructed in the 1940s and another section was added in the 1970s. Longenecker kept the original concrete floor in his now 4,500 foot, three bedroom, three bathroom home. He purchased the home in April of 2002 for a steal of $80,000. The building was on track to be demolished.

It’s been one of Longenecker’s dreams to renovate an old structure into a home and he searched the country for a property.

Then he found the Lodge.

Longenecker grew up as the youngest of eight children in rural Pennsylvania, near Amish communities. One of his favorite memories as a child was the old wooden barn located on his family’s property. He and his siblings spent a lot of time there.

“It was a playground,” he said.

So he contracted a company out of Lakeland to install 75 Florida cypress timbers throughout the home. The ceiling is supported by timber tresses and the bottom timbers are all one piece of wood stretching 32 feet across his living room.

Originally the interior was dark, and the ceiling was low. Longenecker repainted the walls white and removed the plywood ceiling to raise the space several feet. Natural light now complements his use of spotlights that highlight his many displays of artwork from

The gigantic stone fire place in the living room is adorned with cultural artifacts.

around the world. Many sit around the original stone, two-sided fireplace that divides two living spaces.

Longenecker calls himself the curator of the Lodge as almost every piece within has a cultural reference. There is massive Indian Mandala, various Native American totems, a golden Hindu god statue and a plethora of African masks, to name only a few.

His artifacts have been consignment finds and gifts from friends along with souvenirs from his own travels. He likes to shop at Décor Direct on Whitfield Avenue and House of Lords in Osprey to find new, large pieces locally. The doors to the master bedroom were a find at Sarasota Architectural Salvage, which were covered in five layers of paint that were stripped away to reveal beautiful pocketed wood.

Parts of the home are a work in progress. Longenecker, who owns his own business, Divine Landscape Design, is still chipping away at the bedrooms and several more wooden doors that are in the process of being stripped.

“It would be difficult for me to sell and relocate to a traditional house,” he said. “I love it. I walk in the door after work and I just smile.”