Courtesy of Sarasota Architectural Foundation.
Modern Masterpiece Uncovered:
Galloway’s Furniture Showroom by Victor Lundy
July 28–October 27, 2024
The Galloway’s Furniture Showroom of Sarasota opened in 1959. The building was designed by Victor Lundy, an architectural innovator and central figure of the Sarasota School of Architecture—a regional movement that adapted modernist principles to the geography, climate, and socio-cultural context of South Florida’s Gulf Coast. A two-story, highly transparent glass cylinder with exposed wood “morning glory” structure and suspended mezzanine, Galloway’s became an instant local landmark. A 1980s renovation concealed the original structure, windows, and much of the original materials and details.
This exhibition uncovers this modernist masterpiece by first exploring the building’s architectural and cultural significance in the context of the Sarasota School of Architecture and the pioneering work of Victor Lundy. The physical and digital analysis examines the building’s wood-laminated structure and extant architectural features. The exhibition concludes with design concepts for rehabilitating, expanding, and adaptively using the former Galloway’s structure prepared by architecture students from Hampton University—a project of the Hub. Architecture Sarasota’s Hub initiative supports innovative design that helps transform places and inspire lives.
The exhibition is organized by Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design and curated by Marty Hylton, president, Architecture Sarasota; Dr. Sujin Kim, assistant professor of architecture, Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia; and Damien Blumetti, founding principal, Damien Blumetti Architect.
Silver Sponsors
Marge and Leon Ellin
Keith Monda and Veronica Brady
Gallery Didactics for Picking up the Pieces:
Special thanks to the many generous donors who made gifts in memory of Peppi Elona.