AN `A' FOR EFFORT OUT OF PLACE AMONG THE NEIGHBORING BUNGALOWS, AN A-FRAME HOUSE
GETS A REMARKABLE MAKEOVER.

September 8, 1996
Section: REAL ESTATE
Page: 1I
 

The A-frame house at 1909 High Point Drive, west of Sarasota High School, needed more than a mountain
setting when builder Nick Barger bought it in late 1995.
"The plumbing was in disarray, and there was no kitchen, no insulation, no air conditioning," recalled Barger,
owner of Youbar Builders in Sarasota. "An A-frame really did not belong in this neighborhood, but the $68,000
price was right." The house, built in 1962, always was out of synch with the neighboring homes, most of which are
frame bungalows. A half dozen of them are on the Hudson Bayou waterfront, just west of the Tamiami Trail.
Barger decided to make a statement with his land-locked house.
He put Galvalume metal on the steeply sloping roof and replaced dormer windows with double-insulated skylights
that open. He filled in the exposed 2-by-8 rafters with R-30 insulation and drywall. The orange shag carpeting
went to the dump, to be replaced by off-white tile flooring. Large paddle fans rotate vertically.
Barger added hints of deco with glass-block front walls on either side of 200-year-old double doors salvaged from
Atlanta for Cafe L'Europe on St. Armands, where they stood from 1972 to 1995. (Barger is best known for his
restaurant remodeling projects.) He added an open kitchen in the main room, which vaults to 16 feet. Curving
soffits, accented with a neon strip, float over kitchen counters that are covered with off-white ceramic tile. The
kitchen features a beer draft system instead of a dishwasher.
"I thought it would be fun to create a statement and see what the reaction is. People say it's a cool house, but I
know only two or three out of 100 would want to buy it," said Barger, who is trying to lease the house so he can
move on to renovating a house in Sarasota's McClellan Park.
`As nice a job as you could'
Neighbor Guy Asbury says he'd rather have seen the A-frame torn down, "but he did as nice a job as you could."
Asbury looks forward to the dredging of the silted Hudson Bayou, on which he has lived for eight years, even
though it will cost him a $15,000 assessment. He owns a 75- by 167-foot lot next to his 1936 house.
"It's the prettiest lot in town; it looks right down the bayou toward the Osprey Avenue bridge. I'll probably build a
spec home on it when the dredging is done," Asbury said.
Another neighbor, architect Jeff Hole, has mixed feelings about the A-frame. As president of the Alliance for
Historic Preservation, he believes that preservation is the ultimate recycling "even if a place is not historic or
significant. What Barger did is interesting even though it's a conglomeration of styles. The interior has some
interesting spaces."
Like Barger, he wonders how an A-frame ended up in Sarasota. (Barger believes the same builder put up three in
Sarasota, probably from kits from North Carolina.)
Most of the other homes on High Point are compatible with each other, which has led Hole to talk to some of the
neighbors about applying for historic designation for the neighborhood from the City of Sarasota.
"It might help the houses on the bayou if they were damaged in a storm. They could rebuild without meeting
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) requirements," said Hole, pointing out that historically
designated homes or districts get relief from some flood-zone elevation and building requirements.
"This is a neat little area with some continuity. A historic plaque seems to give people a little more pride in their
homes."
Such an application would not have to include all the homes. The A-frame would not meet the 50-year age
requirement.
Hole's own home at 1951 High Point Drive dates to 1940. It is elevated above the garage; the lower part is stone,
the upper part corrugated shingle. It features wood floors.
"It has a lot of character. Some of the rooms slope downhill," said Hole, who'd like to add a second bath behind
the larger bedroom. It already has a walk-in closet from space that probably had been a porch across the back.
Hole bought last year because, he said, "It's a quiet, quaint little neighborhood. The three selling points were the
location, the character of the house and the mature trees."
Fun with furnishings
Meanwhile, Barger is having fun with his A-frame. Among the furnishings is an old barber chair, placed near a
parking meter and pinball machine. He put in some track lighting. Night lights are within the glass block at the
entry. Picture-hanging was problematic on the sloping walls. It meant screwing pictures to the wall at both the top
and bottom.
Stepping down into the main room adds to a look of spaciousness.
"From the outside, you'd never guess that the house has 2,100 square feet. The big bedroom upstairs is totally
separate from the three children's bedrooms downstairs," he said.
He gained an openness by getting rid of an awkward-looking staircase and replacing it with a spiral staircase. He
closed in a back porch under the A-frame and used the space above for a new bath for the master bedroom.
"It works. It flows," he said.


Caption: Builder Nick Barger, left, in front of his remodeled A-frame home on High Point Drive in Sarasota. Above,
the home of Jeff Hole, at 1951 High Point Drive, is typical of houses in the small neighborhood off U.S. 41 on
Hudson Bayou.
STAFF PHOTOS/ROD MILLINGTON
Fun with furnishings: In the main room, the furnishings include a barber chair, a parking meter and a pinball
machine.
STAFF PHOTO/ROD MILLINGTON