229 South Osprey – Silva Apartments

A locally designated historic structure, the Silva Apartments, which were completed by December of 1925, were called by the local press “one of the finest in the city”. It was, and is now, a 28 family apartment house built at a reported cost of $75,000 , unfurnished.   The 1928 Hotels and Apartments Guide described the first floor as devoted to “fine stores” in 1927—28. The fine stores consisted of the Silva Cold Storage Market and the Terrace Pharmacy .

The Silva Apartments were built on property purchased by Edward C. Silva from I.G. Archibald and Harry Rigby in early 1924.  Archibald was a significant Sarasota entrepreneur at the time.

The apartments would remain the Silva Apartments until 1949 when the new owner, J. Hoelstad, renamed them the Valencias.  When the structure was designated historic in 1987, the Hoelstad family still owned the apartments.

The builders, Rickett and Haworth were established in 1911 by H. C. Ricketts and A. Haworth. Headquartered in Tampa, they expanded to Sarasota in 1924.  Among the buildings they built in Tampa are the Hillsboro Hotel, the Victory Theatre and the Hensley Arcade . In Sarasota Ricketts and Haworth were responsible for many significant structures constructed during the “Boom” of the 1920’s.

Some of the buildings in Sarasota which Ricketts and Haworth built are The Archibald Building on Main Street , the Sarasota Times Building on First Street , the Sarasota Hotel, the Broadway Apartments and the Hudson—Essex Show Room.

For more information see: Silva Apartments – Sarasota History Alive