Like that neurotic woman in Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays, I often spend the afternoon driving around endlessly, trying to turn the blur of movement into a reason for living. In doing this I must have driven past every house in Sarasota at least a dozen times. Some of them have become favorites. These are the ones that I always slow down to look at, that cheer me up, that inspire me, that touch me, that amaze me, that are full of themes and metaphors. These are also the ones that you can see easily from the street.

            These homes range in size from 20,000 square feet down to approximately 250, and in value from $12 million to, as they phrase it euphemistically, “the value is in the land.” And they are a group that could only exist in Sarasota. So grab a Slurpee, get in the car, and take a little tour with me.

Theisen House. This Guy Peterson mansion is the definition of drop-dead gorgeous. It’s located on Longboat Bay Boulevard up in Whitfield Estates, where it most emphatically does not fit into the neighborhood. It shows how “modern,” when done right, can out-glamour Spanish and French and leave them looking like Disney World. Note the dazzling perfection of the asymmetrical design. Even the living room furniture (which you see if those amazing curtains are open) is figured out to the nth degree. This is a very viewer-friendly house and something of a showoff. It turns a corner and glides down the street like it’s traversing a red carpet.

The A. Everett “Chick” Austin House. Austin was the first director of the Ringling Museum and possibly the most important arts figure ever to live in Sarasota. He pretty much brought modern art to America when he was director of the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Conn. His home in Sarasota (on Delmar Avenue in Whitfield) has been altered over the years, but it still contains the Austin magic. I was in it once and vividly remember a 40-foot ballroom with Venetian-style murals that opened onto a sun porch of Chinese green fretwork, which in turn opened onto a hedge-enclosed lawn with an enormous banyan tree. Today it remains a beautiful, mysterious house, a glamorous recluse of a place. You can almost picture Norma Desmond staring at you from the second-story window.

For Sale. Just plain pretty. Think Monet. Renoir. Sonoma. Provence. Located near the corner of Broughton and Holly up in Whitfield, where three or four other houses of equal beauty co-exist in a picture-postcard scene of gorgeous suburban architecture. But this house is a harmonic convergence all its own: the fairy tale cottage, the enormous trees. And guess what? It’s on the market, for $895,000, through SaraBay Real Estate.

This tiny trailer is the snowbird experience writ small. Set on an expanse of perfectly cut lawn, and located at the east end of Arlington Street near—but not in—the Aloha Trailer Park, it demonstrates the beauty of the austere. All the details, even the old fuel tank and the electric meter, give it a presence that would have excited artists like Joseph Cornell and Walker Evans. Plus it has a wonderful Midwestern sobriety. One almost expects to see corn growing in the field behind.

The Palmer Estate on Bay Shore Road. Sarasota’s version of Jay Gatsby’s house, the giant bayfront mansion where men and women moved like butterflies during that long, glorious summer when Sarasota changed completely and got rich, also known as the 1990s. This is where the drama unfolded. The parties, the feuds, the political maneuverings. This is where I saw my first martini bar. The Palmers have moved to a penthouse on Lido. The new owners? A young couple from New York, who paid $12 million.

The midget house. Legend has it that a family of circus midgets built this house (on Sarasota Avenue near Jungle Gardens) and the similar one next door. Apparently this isn’t really true, and the inside is surprisingly normal. But it certainly makes a good story, and that’s what I always tell people. The house’s real distinction is the fun-house mirror games it plays with proportion. How big is it? You think you have it figured out, then you look at the front door and have to start all over again. It’s a lesson in how scale distorts our perceptions.

The Villa Serena. This building should be in some Sports Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth stayed here during his visits to Sarasota back in the 1920s, and golf legend Bobby Jones not only lived here but kept his trophy collection up on the third floor. Today it’s been beautifully restored by owner Christopher Brown, who sees it as his life’s passion and never stops tinkering and improving. It’s located directly across the street from the Sara Bay Country Club, which tried to buy it and turn it into a parking lot. Shame.

The Putterman House. Designed by Carl Abbott and located on Morningside Drive in Lido Shores, this is the ultimate in a sophisticated beach house, elegant but informal. It may also be the pinnacle of the Sarasota School of Architecture. How could it get more perfect than this? P.S. If you have a boat, go get a view of it from the lagoon.

The Cohen House. This may well be the most architecturally significant house in Sarasota. It was designed by Paul Rudolph for former mayor and philanthropist David Cohen. The living room is enormous for a reason; the early rehearsals of the Florida Coast Symphony were held there. It represents the good old days, when rich people in this town were noted for their understated taste. After Cà d’Zan, probably the most “Sarasota” house in town. You can get a good look from the end of Garden Lane on Siesta Key.

Art Deco House. Built by Detroit Tigers catcher Billy Sullivan (he played in four World Series), this is one of the few real Art Deco structures left in town. It was later owned by piano teacher Ruth DeLuca, and the Miami Moderne streamlined living room once contained three grand pianos. This gem is on Oak Street just off U.S. 301, near the First Presbyterian Church.