Seibert Architects has won a 2020 AIA Florida/Caribbean Award of Excellence for renovations and additions to the Arguedas House, a midcentury-modern Lido Shores residence that had suffered years of neglect.

Designed by Tollyn Twitchell of Ralph Twitchell Architects in 1959 for Sarasota philanthropist Rita Adler and her family, the house is unofficially nicknamed the “Zigzag House” for its unusual roofline.

The home was featured in illustrator John Pirman’s popular “Only in Sarasota” column in Sarasota Magazine’s March issue. At the time, architect Michael Epstein of Seibert Architects told us the renovations focused both on “correcting insensitive modifications” and the neglect that the house suffered over the years. The multi-phase restoration, completed in 2017, brought attention to the original midcentury-modern details while adding new modern details “to create a cohesive aesthetic.”

“I’d only seen one roof shape like it, in architecture school, and so I’ve always been fascinated by the house,” Epstein told us. Now, he says, “It makes me grin every time we go in there.”