Carl Abbott passes at 90

The last living member of the Sarasota School of Architecture ‘held himself to very high standards’.

By Rhatia Murphy

Original Air Date: October 27, 2026

Host: If you live here, you know those Sarasota School of Architecture buildings—clear lines, bright designs, lots of glass and transparency. Carl Abbott was the last surviving member of this loosely organized group of architects, also known as “Sarasota Modern”. He passed away earlier this month here in Sarasota. Rhatia Murphy has this tribute.

Rhatia Murphy: During a conversation about architect Carl Abbott, I described his buildings as working around nature. Marty Hylton offered a small correction.

RM: That makes sense that he would notice nature because he was building against it and around it.

Marty Hylton: Well, and with it, right?

Casa del Cielo in Siesta Key

RM: Right.

RM: Abbott, who died October 7 at age 90, built a career around that relationship with nature.

Hylton is president of the nonprofit Architecture Sarasota. He describes Abbott as the “keeper of the flame” for the Sarasota School of Architecture.

The Sarasota School is the name of an architectural movement. Its architects adapted modern design to the Gulf Coast’s climate and landscape, connecting the spaces inside their buildings with the world outside.

Carl Abbott

Abbott studied under Paul Rudolph at Yale and worked in London with Norman Foster and Richard Rogers. In 1966, he established his practice in Sarasota.

Hylton says Abbott continued developing the movement’s ideas as architectural fashions changed around him.

MH: He took those early principles of the Sarasota School, and he didn’t just repeat them; he evolved them.

RM: To explain what that looks like, Hylton describes the Putterman-Levine House in Lido Shores. Abbott originally designed it for artist Florence Putterman and her husband.

From the street, Hylton says, you see a wall. A courtyard leads toward the house, with a blue metal sculpture Abbott designed. Once inside, the view opens up.

The Alderson House in Nokomis

MH: Where the front of the house is all solid, the back of the house is completely transparent, and you’re overlooking Pansy Bayou. This beautiful deck and landscaping that takes you down to the water—that’s the first thing you see.

RM: Hylton describes high ceilings in the original painting studio, stepping down toward the more intimate bedroom spaces. The design responds to the artist’s work and the landscape outside.

The Alderson House in Nokomis

Decades later, Abbott helped the home’s new owners adapt it to their lives. For Hylton, that collaboration shows how Abbott could respect a building’s original ideas while allowing it to change.

He brought a similar attention to the people around him. Hylton first met Abbott in 2007 while researching the Sarasota School.

MH: Carl had remarkable standards, and he held himself to very high standards—both in his work and as a human being on this planet. And it wasn’t just that he held himself—he held others to those standards.

RM: Hylton remembers being encouraged—and being challenged when Abbott thought he was missing something. He also remembers an unexpected gift: a copy of Abbott’s book, sent to his office with a personal note.

The Miller House in Sarasota

Abbott was the youngest and last surviving member of the original Sarasota School. Preserving his contribution is now part of Hylton’s work.

He says Architecture Sarasota worked with Abbott this summer to document his surviving buildings and identify priorities for possible National Register nominations. That work extends a survey that previously stopped around the time Abbott established his Sarasota practice.

MH: And I think we share his legacy, both his approach and who he was as a designer and his role as the keeper of the flame, and we make sure that his most important buildings are preserved for the future. That’s what we need to do.

The Deering House in Osprey

RM: For Hylton, the loss is also personal. He remembers the calls that came after he moved to Sarasota.

MH: When I first moved here three and a half years ago, he would often call me on Fridays, and we’d have conversations.

RM: They talked about Abbott’s archive, his clients, and his years studying with Paul Rudolph. Sometimes Abbott had a list of things he wanted Hylton to think about.

Hylton says he’ll miss those conversations and the way Abbott kept him on his toes. Near the end of our interview, he offers a simple description of his friend:

MH: I will miss him challenging me.

RM: For WSLR News, I’m Rhatia Murphy.

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