Charles Ringling Mansion (Sarasota, Florida) | mansion / manor house / villa, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1920s construction

 mansion / manor house / villa, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1920s construction

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Charles was one of the owners of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and was in charge of production, while his wife, Edith, participated in the business and was a member of the board of directors of the circus.

The estate was built in 1925-26 as their winter retreat. Pink Etowah marble from Georgia was used for the exterior of the mansion, the terraces, the buttresses and the porte-cochere. Steel and concrete were used in walls behind the marble. The interior of the home had yellow Siena marble in the floors and walls, with some fireplaue of Botticino marble. The walls of the billiard room have black Belgian marble.

In the 1960s, New College of Florida purchased the estate for development of its new campus. The former Ringling mansion is now College Hall.

Along with the nearby Sanford and Caples estates, designated the "Caples-Ringling Estates Historic District", listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.