At a time when older addresses are often overshadowed by gleaming new builds, one Sarasota home stands as an enduring relic. Located at 2525 Ashton Road, it’s nestled in a neighborhood with deep local roots: the Maine Colony Historic District, which came to be around 1916. Back then, snowbirds from the Pine Tree State built a group of bungalows to escape Maine’s cold winters. Many of the neighborhood’s early houses were kit homes shipped from the north, arriving in Tampa by train before being transported by boat to Sarasota. 

Today, many of those original homes are still standing—some fixed up and charming, some replaced by slicker styles and some falling into disrepair. That’s how current owner Jeffrey Frank found 2525 Ashton, and a big reason why he liked it.

“I've always lived in historic homes and had an 1890s condo in Washington, D.C.,” says Frank. “When I looked at Sarasota’s Zillow, all I saw were golf course developments and cookie cutter houses. I needed soul, patina and grit. Then I saw this house, labeled a ‘handyman special.’ It was a wreck, and the photos showed just how much work it needed, but I was captivated. I’m not a handyman, but I married the right guy for that. Even the neighborhood was kind of rough at the time. Friends and family told us, ‘Absolutely not.’ So we went for it.”

Frank, a psychotherapist, and his husband Alexander Vasiljev, a former botanist at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, purchased the property in 2015 for $215,000. Set on more than an acre of land, it includes a 1,920-square-foot main house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, as well as a separate 400-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom guest cottage. Frank and Vasiljev spent nearly a decade restoring the home, focusing on preservation rather than modernization.

That process involved leveling the wood frame home, stripping away drop ceilings to reveal an extra two feet of height, uncovering original heart pine floors beneath wall-to-wall carpet and replacing single-pane jalousie windows with double-pane modern glass while preserving the original wood frames.

But amid the flurry of changes, the couple kept the home’s existing footprint. “We didn’t change the layout or remove walls,” Frank says. “We wanted to restore it.” The kitchen now has cork flooring and custom shelving built by Vasiljev, who took on the role of project manager. Modern updates include new kitchen appliances, an EV charging station and all-new electrical and plumbing systems. “We learned late in the game the toilet was flushing straight into soil,” Frank says.

The pair also added a patio and screened lanai made with ipe wood, as well as a hot tub. An A-frame attic space welcomes natural light and serves as a cozy atelier for painting.

Beyond the house itself, the property displays the results of Vasiljev’s green thumb. “‘Selby South’ is what I call it,” Frank says of the lush landscape.
The expansive lot, created by combining two parcels, is home to mango, lychee, longan and pineapple trees, plus multiple varieties of bamboo and banana trees.

One of the more surprising discoveries during the restoration came when the couple found remnants of a star-shaped koi pond, visible in 1930s film of the property. “When we moved in, we noticed a star-shaped outline filled with dirt and petunias,” Frank says. “We figured out it was once a pond, buried over time.”

A rustic clubhouse, built in 1923, still stands nearby. Although its legal ownership is unclear, the structure remains in use as a nonprofit space for neighborhood events like concerts and lectures.

After nearly a decade in the Maine Colony, Frank and Vasiljev have decided to sell the home and relocate to Bangkok, Thailand, to embrace a minimalist lifestyle. “We never want to own again,” Frank says. “We’ve challenged ourselves to limit our belongings to two suitcases each. Letting go of things has been an exercise in lightness. No more stuff.”

Frank and Vasiljev hope to find a buyer who values preservation and the home’s rich history—“ideally, someone who’s as crazy about this place as we are," Frank says. “Someone who sees its character, and not just the land it sits on.”