House Proud

March is the month we welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates to Bradenton and the Baltimore Orioles to Sarasota" target="_blank">Sarasota for spring training. So it's only appropriate that we take a look at a Sarasota" target="_blank">Sarasota penthouse that was briefly occupied by one of the greatest baseball players of all, Babe Ruth. It's in the Villa Serena, the classic old apartment building right across the street from Sarabay Country Club.

The Villa Serena was built in 1926, and it's amazing that it is still here and in such good shape. Its claim to fame is all the sports celebrities who have stayed here over the years. In addition to the Babe, it was the home of golfing great Bobby Jones during the winter of 1926-'27. (He was here to sell lots for the Adair Company, developers of the Whitfield area - and, of course, play golf.)

The Villa Serena has 10 one-bedroom apartments, but on the top floor is a large penthouse (currently subdivided into two units); and it was here that the sports greats spent their Sarasota time. If only those walls could talk. Bobby Jones kept all his trophies on a shelf in the living room; and Ruth, a notorious womanizer and heavy drinker, entertained his golfing and baseball buddies here.

The building's current owner deserves some kind of medal for preserving it so well and making sure it's so well maintained. He's always making little improvements, and everywhere you look there's something to catch your eye: the beautiful lawn out back, the various fountains and statuary, the enormous banyan tree that provides shade for the tenants' cars. He's also restored a meeting room (with a beautiful beamed ceiling and French doors) and put in a commercial kitchen.

The Villa Serena has led an adventurous life. For a while it was owned by the politically famous Gregg family of New Hampshire and Siesta Key. It's been the headquarters of a religious institution, a home for retired golfers, and is now poised to enter its ninth decade as Sarasota's most unique "boutique" apartment building. The owner insists it's not haunted, but if the Yankees win the World Series again this fall, I wouldn't be surprised if the current tenants hear the ghostly popping of champagne corks in the Babe's old living room.

Robert Plunket writes the weekly Real Estate Junkie blog at sarasotamagazine.com.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Brown