A cottage in the city

When it comes to pure old-fashioned charm, Seventh Street between Orange and Goodrich avenues may be the prettiest block in town. With its collection of 20 or so cottages from the 1920s, each one carefully restored and gussied up in Caribbean colors, it’s the crown jewel of Gillespie Park, that once-shabby — and shunned — neighborhood just north of downtown.

Nowadays, Gillespie Park is reinventing itself. The older homes are coming back to life and new homes — some of them modern-looking, some mirroring the older styles — are popping up on the infill lots. But this month’s home personifies the classic time-honored Gillespie Park aesthetic. It’s old, it’s quaint, it’s colorful, it’s affordable, and most of all, it’s cute.

Built in 1925, it’s a wood-frame cottage typical of the era. The façade is plain and simple, with some gingerbread trim enlivening the simplicity. The front porch is perfect. Open and unscreened, it’s furnished with comfortable wicker furniture. “We sit out here and wave at the neighbors,” says owner Dale Adcock.

Dale and his wife, Carmen, actually live down the street, in a similar but larger home. They bought the cottage because they feared for its future. “We didn’t want the place to be bulldozed,” Adcock explains.

At 640 square feet, the home is small but not tiny. Originally two bedrooms, one bedroom was sacrificed for a good-sized eat-in kitchen. The original kitchen, at the rear of the home, is now a laundry room. The original bath became much-needed closet space, while a new bath was added. Air conditioning, plumbing and electric were replaced when the Adcocks bought the place in 2009. The result is a reconfigured home that has the livability factor of a good-sized one-bedroom apartment.

But few apartments can offer the laid-back tropical atmosphere of the home’s outdoor living area. Trees provide just the right amount of shade, and a new shell front yard suggests a Key West touch. The large backyard is fenced; half of it is mulch, the other half lawn. There’s a detached garage that is used as storage. Zoning allows the construction of a new garage with a mother-in-law apartment upstairs.

The Adcocks are selling the home furnished. Carmen did the decorating. “I’d call it ‘coastal cottage,’” she says, and the eclectic mix of thrift shop and IKEA pieces complements the vintage architecture perfectly.

The picturesque block of Seventh Street will look familiar to browsers of Airbnb  properties in Sarasota. Mike and Andrea Seeger, the Adcocks’ neighbors across the street, own several properties they rent out to vacationers, and they are credited with creating the signature look of the street. Each cottage remains true to its 1920s origins, but each boasts a unique color scheme. The Adcock house is a creamy cerulean blue with white and lavender trim. Across the street is a coral home with trim in two different shades of purple, then a cream-colored cottage with robin’s egg blue trim. The result is a happy mélange that is becoming more recognizable as a Sarasota holiday alternative. You can rent a condo at the beach or a cute little cottage downtown. They’re both good.

The Adcocks have been in Gillespie Park for 14 years, and during that time they have seen it change from a problematic neighborhood of renters and cheap housing to a stable enclave of creative and entrepreneurial homeowners. Dale works as a financial planner and Carmen was a flight attendant — “back when it was fun,” she says ruefully. Now two of her sisters also live in the neighborhood. “There was an unwritten assumption that we would all end up together. And we did. Right here in Gillespie Park.”

The Adcocks use their cottage for visiting family, and like the Seegers, occasionally rent it out. During the season, it can bring as much as $2,500 a month. And for potential buyers who think it’s too small, there’s an easy way to expand — a master suite could easily be added to back of the home.

 That’s the way things go in Gillespie Park these days. Homes are being renovated, enlarged and brought up to date, with the short walk to the shops and restaurants of downtown a magical draw for newcomers and vacationers alike. What isn’t changing is the neighborhood’s historic charm. It’s always been there. It’s just taken some clever homeowners and a lot of bright paint to bring it all back.

1621 Seventh St. is priced at $310,000. For more information call Marni Hayden of My Realty Co. at 809-5044.