555 South Osprey Ave – “Sen. Joseph Humphries House / Nelson Lodge”

The two-story former residence at 555 S. Osprey Avenue is a two-story, wooden structure that was constructed c. 1903 and moved to its present location in 1937 from Wares Creek in the nearby city of Bradenton. J.H. Humphries purchased the land on March 3, 1903 from W.A. Vinson for $532.  The building is designated locally as historic.

It now occupies a formerly vacant comer lot at the intersection of Osprey Avenue and Oak Street. The house features weatherboard and novelty exterior siding, a front-gable main roof surfaced with terne-coated (steel shingles coated with a lead-tin alloy) metal shingles, and rests on a continuous concrete block and brick foundation. The residence still has its original 2/2-light double-hung, wood sash windows, and the main facade has a one-story, full-width porch with a stick balustrade and chamfered posts that support the hipped roof.

A wrap-around porch, asymmetrical front facade and steep gabled roofs well as a lack of exterior ornamentation make this an excellent example of the folk house in the Queen Anne Style.

Several businesses have operated out of the location.  It  functioned as a tourist facility from 1938 to 1971, when it was known as the Nelson Lodge and the Tourist Home.  In a Jan. 25, 1960 classified from the Sarasota Herald Tribune, the Nelson Lodge was advertised as “Double occupancy, all conveniences $6 daily”.

Then it was Melody’s Skin and Body Therapy.  Currently it is Red Property Management.