But the Museum Area’s real claim to fame is that it’s home to 25 or so old Spanish houses built during the first real estate boom from 1925 to 1927. This is Addison Mizner-inspired old Florida architecture, and these homes are the granddaddies of all the Spanish Med homes that blanket the state today.

The Thoms House, 5030 Bay Shore Road

One the biggest and best – possibly the biggest and best – is currently on the market: the Thoms House, built in 1926 by the family that developed the dog track. Located at 5030 Bay Shore Rd, it is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a sizeable 4,300 square feet. It has 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, several fireplaces, a walled swimming pool, a separate guest house, and is set on a lot sized at over half an acre.

The Thoms House guest bedroom, top, and pool, bottom.