558 South Osprey / Eliza Webb-Guptil
The one-story side gabled craftsman style bungalow at 558 S. Osprey Avenue was built in 1916 and moved to the current local in 1937. It is locally designated historic.
The structure has a side-gabled roof with a shallow pitch. The building exhibits triangular knee brackets which create the appearance of support the eaves of the roof. The windows on the house are mostly one-over-one double hung sash. The structure rests on a rusticated stone block piers and although there is a stuccoed cement block infill over the piers, their visual independence has been retained.
These simple details and natural setting give the site a very strong rustic feeling, making this building a fine example of the craftsman style bungalow movement in Sarasota during the 1910’s.
The building’s site is environmentally intact, and appears to be in a remnant upland hammock area. The land contains seven mature oak tress, 19 mature cabbage palms and one mature cedar tree. Some of the oaks and palms were apparently planted to act as a buffer between neighboring houses. The mango trees present could have been planted during the Alderman ownership (1905-1910).
The house is significant due to its association with important Sarasota County pioneer families. It is part of a successful early subdivision of agricultural land in what is now historic Laurel Park. The land was originally purchased by Louis Alderman from Col. J.H. Gillespie, who was the manager of the Florida Mortgage & Investment Co. Little is known about Alderman except that he owned this land and other land on Osprey Avenue. Alderman Street was named in his honor.
On February 26, 1912 Mr. and Mrs. William Steer- Saxby purchased several lots (including 558 South Osprey) from Alderman and started cultivating rare fruits and vegetables. At that time the property was known as the “Saxby Holme”.
The word holm(e) means a low flat tract of rich land on the banks of a river. The title was appropriate for the land land since there was a creek that ran the full length of the property along the western side and Hudson Bayou at the south end of the property.
On May 20, 1913, the Steer-Saxbys sold their land to Philip C. Bacon, who was the father of Everett J. Bacon who was part owner of the “Land Broker Baxter Company”. It was this company that divided the land and created the “Osprey Avenue Subdivision”.
Eliza Webb-Guptil, purchased the land at 558 South Osprey on March 20,1920. She was the daughter of John G. Webb, an important early pioneer of the Osprey area. At the time of the purchase her husband Frank Guptil, who was also an early settler of the Osprey area, was deceased.
John Webb, originally moved to Sarasota south of Osprey, which was known as Webb’s Point. After several years of rough pioneer life, the Webbs established Webb’s Winter Resort (in Osprey) and advertised it in several Northern papers. The Webbs are credited with attracting many people to the area who would later return to make Sarasota their home.
In 1879, Eliza married Captain Frank Guptil, a sailor and boat builder who have moved to the area several years before. Captain Guptil built a home at Webb’s Point that he and Eliza would live in until Mrs. Paler purchased Webb’s Point. The Guptils then moved to Siesta Key where they built a bungalow. Frank Guptil passed away on August 24, 1912.
Both Eliza and her sister, Anne Griffith (who was also widowed), shared the house on Osprey Ave. The sisters remained in the house until their deaths — Anne in 1943 and Eliza in 1944.
The home continued to be occupied by the descendants of the Webb family, with Mrs. Walter J. Bryan residing there through 1959.