The History of the Powel Crosley Estate
Powel Crosley built the Florida winter home for his wife, Gwendolyn, in 1929. The two-and-a-half-story Mediterranean mansion was built in the southwest corner of Bradenton on a 60-acre parcel of land on Sarasota Bay adjacent to the John Ringling Estate.
The 11,000-square-foot home has 21 rooms and 10 baths, and an adjacent carriage house has room for three cars and servants’ quarters on the second floor. Originally the mansion had a swimming pool, a seaplane dock and yacht basin. The home featured many innovations for its time, including a steel frame encased in cast stone, embedded pipes and wiring, and a 135-day construction schedule.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, Seagate was saved from commercial development and purchased for renovation by Manatee County, which operates it as a meeting, conference and event venue. Take a virtual tour of the Powel Crosley Estate.