Gateway Bank Building
The new home of Gateway Bank is a well-preserved example of the Sarasota School of Architecture.  Designed by Jack West for First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Manatee County, it was completed in 1974.  The opening of this building marked First Federal Savings first branch office in Sarasota.  James J. Haegerty, the president of First Federal, wanted the new building to make, “an important architectural statement.”  West, one of Sarasota’s leading architects, created a building that employed cantilevered concrete slabs.  Through the use of concrete and red brick the building is a bold re-interpretation of the materials used across the street at Sarasota High School.

Sarasota School of Architecture
Beginning in the 1940s, Sarasota became a mecca for modern architecture, unrivaled in Florida and equaled only by a few cities in Southern California.  Here, a group of gifted, up-and-coming architects produced a remarkable body of work—dubbed the Sarasota School of Architecture—that appears as fresh and new today as when it was built.  Between 1941 and 1966, these architects captured the imagination of the international architectural community by designing innovative houses, schools, and commercial buildings.  Founders Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph created an indigenous Florida West Coast architecture based on shared beliefs. 

Like their European counterparts, the architects turned their backs on historic precedent and exploited the new materials and technologies of the day.  This produced a minimalist architecture characterized by flat-roofed buildings with smooth, unornamented walls and delicate, carefully proportioned facades. In Sarasota, this approach to design was also influenced by local climate, construction practices, regional culture, and the Florida lifestyle.  The buildings produced possessed a strong connection to the environment, allowing Sarasota School structures to respect and blend well into their sites.

Rudolph’s work attracted and inspired other architects including Jack West, Victor Lundy, Gene Leedy, Edward “Tim” Siebert, and Mark Hampton.  National magazines featured the innovative architecture of Sarasota’s young architects.  For 25 years, these architects produced a body of work that put Sarasota on the architectural map and insured its place in Florida’s architectural history. The work of the Sarasota School marked a high point in the development of American architecture.

Jack West
Born in Illinois in 1922, Jack West served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. Afterwards, he attended Yale University School of Architecture, where he was awarded his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1949. After graduating from Yale, West traveled to Sarasota to learn more about the new modern buildings that were being designed here by the architectural firm of Twitchell & Rudolph. West worked periodically with Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph, first as a draftsman, and then later, after passing the Florida Architectural Board exams in 1950, as an architect. In 1951 West left Twitchell & Rudolph’s office to start his own firm.

After a brief period of time working in southern California, West returned to Sarasota and opened his own practice. From 1953 to 1954, after Paul Rudolph opened his own practice, Jack West formed a partnership with Ralph Twitchell. In 1956 West formed a partnership with architect Beth Waters, the firm of West & Waters lasted until 1960. West designed the Englewood Elementary School Addition, and the Fruitville Elementary School Addition with Bolton McBride. In 1957, the firm of West & Waters in partnership with Bolton McBride, designed additions to Tuttle and Fruitville Elementary Schools. Working with Terry Rowe, a local interior designer, West designed the Courtyard House on Bird Key, which won a “Homes for Better Living” award. In 1965, West designed Sarasota City Hall and formed an association with Rolland W. Sellew to work for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 1966, West formed architecture and engineering partnerships with Al Conyers. The firm of West & Conyers/Architects & Engineers lasted into the 1990s.

Other well known buildings designed by West include the recently restored Nokomis Beach Plaza on Casey Key, the Lemon Avenue Mall, and the former home of the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.  In 1988, Jack West wrote a book about his life and career, T.L.O.A.A. (The Lives of An Architect).  It is available at Circle Books on St. Armands Circle.