high water. He was so pleased with it that he
convinced a friend to build one like it.”
Certain themes predominate in Seibert’s life: The
ability to have lots of fun; the importance of knowing
how to do practical things; having a set of
principles that guide your work; and the importance
of finding a good woman to share one’s life
with.
“Learning to become an architect is fun. I’ve had
fun in my life, really a lot of fun,” Seibert said. “The
Plaza was a favorite watering hole for Sarasota
architects. We would meet there where we had
some great lunches. I had fun and that used to
annoy a lot of upscale architects.”
His father, an officer in the U.S. Navy, taught him
carpentry and drafting. When he was 12 years old
his father designed and built him a boat that stimulated
his interest in how to design and build them.
When he was in architecture school at the University
of Florida, he spent a summer building his own
waterfront house on Siesta Key. Having a practical
understanding of how to build things gave him a leg
up on most architects who had never built anything.
At those Plaza lunches there was talk of the need
for rules and direction in architecture. Rudolph had
vision.
“It was the disciples of Rudolf that became the
Sarasota School,” said Seibert.
Lundy was an artist as well as an architect, “a
sculptor of space,” as the documentary on his life
testifies. His work is inspirational.
“He was the single most talented man I ever
knew,” said Seibert.
With the emergence of post modern thought,
the rules that guided journeymen architects went
30 GASPARILLA ISLAND November/December 2017
out the window.
“If all beliefs are equally valid, there is no way to
distinguish personal truth from self-delusion,”
Seibert said.
In this intellectual atmosphere, architecture
floundered.
“Sarasota has so many architects whose work is
so terrible it makes your teeth hurt,” he confided.
If life is fun and one’s work fulfilling, the love and
companionship of a partner makes it all more
meaningful. His marriage to Lynne seems to be a
meeting of the minds as well as the hearts.
“Lynne is a whole lot smarter than I am,” he said
with pride and affection. “I am still 14 years old, just
ask Lynne. I didn’t know how smart she was when
I married her. She takes care of everything.”
Of his bad boy years, he confessed, “I was the
original juvenile delinquent. I was 17 and my father
was upset that I enlisted. The atomic bomb was
dropped a few months after that but I couldn’t get
Hiss Studio, Lido Shores