The mansion the circus built: See inside the 56-room Florida home built by the Ringling family a century ago

The Ringling Brothers circus once brought elephants, gilded wagons, and flying trapeze artists to towns across America aboard a mile-long train. Lauded as the “World’s Greatest Show,” the circus enterprise made the Ringlings one of America’s wealthiest families by the early 20th century.

So what did John Ringling, the second-youngest and most famous of his seven brothers, do with all that wealth?

He brought Venice to Florida.

Completed in 1926 by John Ringling and wife Mable, Ca’ d’Zan, a 36,000-square-foot mansion on the coast of Sarasota, Florida, showcases the extravagance of wealth during the turn of the century.

Inspired by the Mediterranean, the 56-room mansion, which is furnished with antiques and artifacts purchased at Gilded Age estate sales, features a ballroom, reception room, great hall, dining room, and breakfast room, which the circus magnate used to entertain his high-profile guests.

The estate, which Ringling donated to the state of Florida on his death in 1936, also includes a museum of art, a circus museum, and bayfront gardens.

Look inside Ca’ d’Zan, one of Florida’s most interesting and extravagant historic mansions.

John Ringling and his wife, Mable, began spending their winters in Sarasota, Florida, in 1909.

One of the seven Ringling brothers — five of whom founded the Ringling Bros. circus in 1884 — John Ringling became one of the most famous and successful Ringlings, partly because he lived long enough to enjoy the financial success of the family circus enterprise.

In 1907, the brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth, which they would merge with the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows, creating a monopoly in the circus industry that led to John and his brother Charles becoming some of the richest people in America at the time.

John Ringling grew his wealth by investing in booming industries like oil, railroads, and ranching. Despite amassing a considerable fortune, with his estate valued at $23.5 million by his death in 1936 — or $547 million in today’s money, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics — John Ringling died with only $311 ($7,244 today) in his bank account, according to his nephew, Henry Ringling North.

Ringling began constructing Ca’ d’Zan in 1924.

Costing a reported $1.5 million in 1926, according to the museum, ($27 million today), Ca’ d’Zan expands over 36,000 square feet with 56 rooms, including five guest suites and a service wing dedicated to staff.

The extravagant mansion served as John and Mable Ringling’s winter home whenever they weren’t residing in New York City or traveling. However, the Ringlings only enjoyed their residence at Ca’ d’Zan for a limited time, as Mable Ringling died in 1929, and John Ringling followed in 1936.

At one point, John and his brother Charles Ringling — who later built a marble mansion north of Ca’ d’Zan —owned a fourth of Sarasota, as reported by The Ringling.

Downstairs, the mansion’s reception room, lounging room, breakfast room, dining room, great hall, and ballroom, as well as the kitchen and pantry, are open to the public. The mansion and the museum are open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Entrance to the mansion costs $45 for adults, $20 for children between 6 and 17 years old, and $15 for children under 6.

The mansion’s design pulls inspiration from Venetian and Mediterranean styles.

The colorful and intricate design of Ca’ d’Zan draws inspiration from Venetian Gothic palazzos like the Ca’ d’Oro. Its exterior and interior walls are lined with custom-made terracotta, and the windows replicate Gothic arches.

The mansion’s name, Ca’ d’Zan, translates to “House of John” in Venetian.

The entrance foyer welcomed the Ringlings’ guests.

The entrance foyer, like much of Ca’ d’Zan, is filled with furnishings John and Mable Ringling bought from estate sales.

The mansion and adjacent museum showcase 400 pieces bought from a Newport, Rhode Island, mansion following Alva Vanderbilt and William Vanderbilt’s divorce, as reported by The New York Times.

The central court, which houses a grand piano and custom ceiling panels, was the heart of the mansion.

The central court was meant to be the center of entertaining at the mansion. It features a 1892 Steinway grand piano and an Aeolian organ to soundtrack the Ringlings’ gatherings.

Colored glass windows bring Sarasota’s Gulf Coast into the mansion.

Throughout the mansion, including in the central court, windows feature colored glass panels, which create a warm atmosphere inside the home and add layers of dimension to the interior design.

The ballroom and its ornate ceiling are standout features of the property.

The grand ballroom’s gilded ceiling features custom artwork by illustrator Willy Pogany.

The ballroom ceiling is comprised of 22 custom canvases.

In “Dancers of Nations,” 22 canvas paintings depicting dancers of different times and cultures are arranged in octagonal frames.

A place for informal dining, the breakfast room sits on the other side of the mansion.

The room gave diners views of the Sarasota Bay through colored-glass windows similar to ones in the central court.

The kitchen features cutting-edge technology of the time, like refrigerators and electric stoves.

Other cutting-edge technology in the mansion included an annunciator system that allowed guests to ring the butler’s pantry for service.

Despite being constructed during the Prohibition years, the mansion houses a full-size bar.

The tap room where the Ringlings served their guests with wine and spirits features a terrazzo floor, colorful glass windows, and a bar and decorative glass panels purchased from the Cicardi Winter Palace Restaurant in St. Louis, Sarasota Magazine reported.

The formal dining room features design inspirations from all over the Mediterranean.

The painted plaster ceiling is inspired by Islamic design, per the mansion’s audio tour. The room decorations draw inspiration from the Italianate aesthetic of the 19th century.

The wooden table had 20 leaves that could extend to host a large number of guests.

In another display of early 20th-century technology, the mansion has a private elevator.

The elevator was one of the first ever installed in a private residence in Florida.

Currently closed to the public, the second floor of the mansion holds the Ringlings’ bedrooms.

Separated bathrooms and closets, as well as an entertaining game room, are also upstairs.

The upper levels of the mansion are currently closed to the public as museum staff undergo repairs from damages sustained during Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

The mansion’s rear terrace opens to the Gulf coast.

The mansion’s water-facing terrace and dock are paved with imported marble tiles in a chevron pattern.

Standing on the terrace, visitors overlook the Gulf coast and can feel its cooling breeze, which once made the city of Sarasota famous as an “air-conditioned city,” the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.

Often, guests arrived by sea.

While the main entrance to the property was located on land, guests were often welcomed on the bayfront terrace and its waterside dock.

The historic mansion has been hit by many hurricanes, most recently by Milton and Helene.

As of July 2025, the upper floors of the historic mansion remain closed to the public as restoration efforts continue on the property.

The mansion was heavily affected by last year’s hurricane season, with its basement flooding and disrupting electrical functions, and it was closed to the public between September and December 2024.

The Ringling estate in Sarasota is also home to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

As well as Ca’ d’Zan, the Ringling estate, which expands over 66 acres, also includes the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

The museum, which houses over 10,000 pieces, opened to the public for select exhibitions in 1930. It opened permanently in 1932.

The museum also features a full room from the Astor house in New York City.

Two of the museum’s 21 original galleries feature intact decorations from Caroline Schermerhorn Astor and her son John Jacob Astor IV‘s former residence on New York City’s Fifth Avenue.

When the home was demolished in 1926, John Ringling purchased its interiors, including a grand salon and a library, which are both now on display at the museum.

Visitors to Ca’ d’Zan can also enjoy the Ringlings’ circus museum.

The museum documents the evolution of the circus empire that built the Ringling family’s wealth and legacy.

The Ringlings’ legacy continues to dazzle visitors.

Whether it’s the Venetian architecture, Gilded Age artifacts, or circus history that attracts visitors, the 66-acre Ringling estate and its extensive collections offer a unique and immersive experience, allowing visitors to travel through the extravagant displays of wealth of the turn of the century and the diverse worldly landscapes that inspired the design of Ca’ d’Zan.

The post The mansion the circus built: See inside the 56-room Florida home built by the Ringling family a century ago appeared first on Business Insider.