John McCarthy isn’t divulging too many details about the latest downtown Sarasota walking tour he will lead on behalf of the Center for Architecture Sarasota Thursday afternoon, Dec. 6. He’ll just say it’s a brand-new route that will visit architecturally and historically significant buildings that “people have probably driven by a thousand times but haven’t stopped to appreciate.”

“It’s a walking tour of discovery,” says McCarthy, executive director of Historic Spanish Point and a Florida history buff who received the 2017 Hero of History Award from the Historical Society of Sarasota County. “We’re going to see some things people will say, ‘oh my gosh, I’ve never seen this before.”

Tickets are going fast. Details here.

In other architectural event news: On Saturday morning, Dec. 8 the Ringling Museum will present a Viewpoint Lecture with Mark Lamster, author of the new biography, Philip Johnson: The Man in the Glass House. Lamster is an award-winning architectural critic, professor of architecture and 2017 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Ticket details here.

And the last Umbrella House tour of 2018 takes place Saturday morning, Dec. 15 at the iconic midcentury modern home in Lido Shores designed by Paul Rudolph. The Sarasota Architectural Foundation presents Umbrella House and Cocoon House tours throughout the year. Details here.