A little corner of Mexico A new home on Sarasota's Fiesta Drive is alive with Latin flavor.

May 9, 1999
Section: SUNDAY REAL ESTATE
Page: 1I
 Dorothy Stockbridge-Pratt STAFF WRITER

It's a cross between a Mexican hacienda and a monastery. For starters, the new house at 1853 Fiesta Drive in
Landings Woods, behind Haverty's Furniture just north of Proctor Road off U.S. 41 in Sarasota, is olive colored.
Once inside, the "courtyard" living room is four steps down with gold walls weathered by an antique glaze drip.
The floor has four-foot squares that look like huge Mexican tiles set on the diagonal and framed with redwood.
The tiles actually are concrete sprinkled with color as it was poured over the concrete slab. The 1920s,
hand-carved chandelier hanging from the 14-foot ceiling once hung in Sarasota's University Club. Interior
designer Curt Lucas acquired it in about 80 pieces after it fell.
Now the chandelier, 10 spiral Mexican columns and a kitchen that sits up like a pulpit are the striking features of
the home of Lucas and partner Ron Butine. Contractor on the eight-month project was Knick Barger of Youbar
Builders, who worked with Lucas on J. Ryans restaurant.
"Knick is extremely talented. He was excited about the project and he'd add his ideas, sketched out for us," Lucas
said.
The kitchen is up three steps, making it the center of attention during parties. Tin electrified stars hang from the
kitchen ceiling as a chandelier. Colorful two-inch tiles cover the counters and part of the walls. Butine laid every
tile. Maple cabinets are stained red. The Jenn-Air is set in a granite center island with stainless sides. Floors are
marble, the same as the entry foyer. From the living room, the kitchen appears as a throne above a large
Mexican breakfront.
Another carved pine breakfront dominates the dining room, which has a cobalt chandelier. An antique wine holder
is filled with red wines; a modern wine cooler holds the whites.
The home is filled with a truck-load of furnishings and finishings, including the columns, that were shipped from
Mexico. Lucas learned where to locate the designer items when he owned Architectural Imports. Carved doors
arrived taller than ordered (a mix-up between inches and meters). Barger used them as bathroom doors and
designed new doors for the entry to the master and guest bedroom.
Cobalt walls are in the master bedroom, which has the bed, pillows and window treatments featured in Lucas' JKL
Design Group bedroom in the Sandegren home for the recent ASID Showhouse in Sarasota. He has yet to
replace the stained-glass wall hanging that was sold during the month-long event.
The master bath has a whirlpool tub that spills over into the shower. An old pine dresser was made into the
vanity. Hand-stenciled walls look like an old Victorian wall covering. Floors are ceramic tile that simulates
cobblestone. The other bedroom is emperor green with a velvet and burlap bedspread. The bed was made in
Mexico of wrought iron with gold and silver overlay.
The den has French doors that will open to a deck that Lucas and Butine plan to add this summer. The den
shows off a carved pine armoire. The adjoining powder room has walls painted in large blue and gold squares.
What looks like a carved wall hanging is the closet door.
The ornately carved fireplace in the living room is only decorative, "in case we decide to move it into the
bedroom," Lucas said.
"The house is beautiful. It reminds me of the Southwest," said neighbor Geraldine Meyers.
The 10-acre neighborhood has belonged to the Meyers family since 1943, when the parents of her husband, Art,
bought it. Three Meyers homes are on the street. The Red Robin Inn used to stand on the property. The pond
that the new house views used to be a swampy area.
"The family had a chance to sell out to a developer, but we wanted each house to be individual, and we're real
happy with the way it turned out," Meyers said.


Caption: He's the man!
Contractor Knick Barger gets a lift from Ron Butine, left, and Curt Lucas at the Southwestern-styled Butine-Lucas
home in Landings Woods. `Knick is extremely talented. He was excited about the project and he'd add his ideas,
sketched out for us,' Lucas said.
STAFF PHOTOS/MIKE LANG
The `courtyard' living room, with gold walls weathered by an antique glaze drip, has four-foot squares that look
like Mexican floor tiles, but actually are concrete sprinkled with color as it was poured over the slab. The
chandelier once hung in Sarasota's University Club. Curt Lucas acquired it in about 80 pieces after it fell.
The Butine-Lucas home in Landings Woods.
STAFF PHOTOS/MIKE LANG
The master bedroom has the bed, pillows and window treatments featured in owner Curt Lucas' JKL Design
Group bedroom that was featured in the Sandegren home during the recent ASID Showhouse.