Personal Space

Sarasota has been well served by the work of architect Guy Peterson. The homes he has designed over the years are among the town’s architectural landmarks. They are immediately recognizable — strictly modernistic but done with such precision and skill that each one has become a classic. Sometimes a controversial classic, but still, another stop on any architectural tour.

But perhaps the most important Guy Peterson house is virtually unknown. It’s the one he designed for himself and his family. It’s received no publicity, and that’s just the way the architect wants it. It’s been a private space for raising kids, dreaming up new projects, collecting art from local artists, and even some guitar playing while waiting for the architectural muse to strike.

The home is located in Oyster Bay, just a block or so from where Peterson grew up. “My backyard was the Field Club,” he recalls. His contemporaries were the children of the original batch of Sarasota School of Architecture luminaries. But he always assumed he would become a doctor like his father, until one day he answered an ad in the paper to do some cleanup work for artist Syd Solomon. There, taken in by the drama of Solomon’s famous beach-house studio, the teenage Peterson decided that architecture, not medicine, would be his calling.

Peterson and his wife, Cindy, discovered an empty lot in Oyster Bay in 1996, and knew it would be perfect for what they had in mind. The plan itself is simple. To adapt to a rather long narrow lot, the home is basically one room wide — as Peterson points out, “a modern adaptation of the Charleston single house.” The first floor contains the rather formal living room with a fireplace, then the dining room paneled in birch and flooded with light thanks to a wall-sized window of glass block. All the flooring on the first level is Saltillo tile.

The kitchen and family room come next, a large open space decorated with all 13 Beatles album covers and a large Clive Butcher photograph. The second floor contains the master bedroom with elaborate bath, then toward the rear, matching bedrooms for the Petersons’ two sons. By now the boys are no longer boys but in their 30s and well-established on their own. Both graduated from the Air Force Academy and had distinguished stints in the military. Now, Drew works in finance in New York City and Nolan is a war correspondent in the Ukraine.

Architects’ homes are usually tasteful. What surprised me about the Peterson house is the richness of its decor. There’s a rather baroque chair in the living room, wood ceilings warm things up, and the home is anything but stark. Art covers the walls in virtually every room, well curated pieces by all of Sarasota’s most prominent artists: Frank Colson, Leslie Lerner, Craig Rubadoux, and of course, Syd Solomon. The Petersons own three of his paintings.

Above the three-car garage is Guy’s studio. You can’t get there through the house. You have to walk outside and up a stairway. And that’s just the way Guy wants it. “I do 90% of my creative work here,” he says. The place is totally self-contained, with a bath and kitchenette. It’s a sort of intellectual and impeccably thought-out version of a man cave. There are three guitars displayed on stands, and on breaks from work, Guy will play them. He had a band in high school (Riverview) and music still plays an important part in his life.

Cindy Peterson has her own distinguished career. She is the director of the Center for Architecture Sarasota and is one of the leading architectural archivists in the country, one of only three non-architects who have been given honorary membership in the American Institute of Architects. “We’ve been amazing partners over the years,” Guy says.

The Petersons have put their home on the market, and their future plans are uncertain. They may rent for a while or spend more time at their beach house on Eleuthera in the Bahamas. With the boys gone and both their careers at a successful peak, a major lifestyle change is looming. As Guy puts it, “We’re trying to figure out what our next adventure will be.”

The home at 4509 Camino Real is priced at $2.6 million. For more information, call Dede Curran of Michael Saunders & Co. at 928-3255.