Andrea Clark Brown, architect of Naples' landmark Sugden Community Theatre,major churches and contemporaryhomes,has died at at age 68.
The cause was given by family members as complications from breast cancer.
Brown designed the Sugden theater asa crown jewel in the redesign ofFifth Avenue South as a district dedicated to the arts as well asshopping and dining.
Ted Tobye, The Naples Players board president through the theater's building campaign and construction, remembers that Brown shared a love of classical architecture with its $1 million leaddonors, Herbert and Margaret Sugden. However, her affinity for contemporary design brought her the commission over another local competitor for the 701 Fifth Ave. S. structure.
Fifth Avenue South needed 'new'
"We wanted our theater to stand out, not to look like everything else on Fifth Avenue," he said. Brown's design did that with a semi-rotunda ofstreamlined columns, full-length vertical windows, a curved wall in the lobby and aplaza that could handle outdoor productions.
She also designed the adjacent latticed parking garage, incorporating hanging-hedgewalls, grasses and a fringe of poinciana trees. Later, she designed the second downtown parking garage, distinguished byits opalescent sculpture, at600 Eighth St. S.
"She made it fit the building beside it, so it's just a seamless move from the garage into Sugden or to Fifth Avenue," said Tobye, who regarded her as a good friend.
Bryce Alexander, executive-artistic director of The Naples Players, called her an architect of foresight. Despite the factThe Players originally opted not to include a balcony in the theater's design, Brown retained the ability to addit.
"We're able to complete our expansion because of her vision all those years ago," he said. The theater, which opened in 1998, is undergoing a $15 million updating and expansion that will include the balcony, adding roughly 150 seats.
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Brown also designed church buildings, among them St. Agnes Catholic Church, the only public Naples buildingin “Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.”The book, published by Florida Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, celebrates the 100 most revered architectural works in the state.
Brown designed the church withthemes to includewater, representing the flow of God's blessings and Christ's salvation; and wheat, for communion and the nourishment of faith, according to its pastor, the Rev. Robert J. Kantor.
Even the materials align with that, he said, pointing out the use of rainforest marble in the church. Built toseat a congregation of1,250 comfortably, St. Agnes was dedicated in 2006, but finished in 2007, when Kantor first came as administrator.
"She was very very creative. I don't think there's a straight wall in the place. There are curves that embrace, showing the people of God in a circular, inclusivemodel," he said. The Carrara marble altar has unfinished sidesto give a senseof permanence around, which the sanctuary is built, he said. The floor isJerusalem tile.
"She was a very talented person," Kantor declared.
Naples made Brown an arts star
Brown either designed or redesigned other churches in Naples, including St. John the Evangelist and St. Ann Catholic churches; Grace Lutheran Church; and First United Methodist Church. She also redesigned one of the city's favorite homes, known as the Butterfly House for its winglike Vroofline, and a number of other contemporary private residences.
Brown, a native of Oswego, New York, was a graduateof Bryn Mawr College with a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Virginia. She worked for architectural firms in New York and Philadelphia before winning the Rome Prize,a prestigious fellowship forher to study there. Brown alsotaught atHarvard and Syracuse universities.
She first came to Naples to design a retirement home for her parents, Marilyn and the late Alan Brown. Charmed by the city, she moved here and opened her own firm in 1986.
Her work won a number ofawards, including 22 among the Southwest Florida Chapter of the AIA and three among the statewide chapter. Among them was the 2019 AIA Florida Medal of Honor for Design, its highest award.
During the pandemic, Brown and her husband, artist John Caroll Long, offeredtheir UP Art gallery for The Naples Players as a base of operation forits drive-in movie series in an adjacent lot. It was one of a number of arts support activities that won her the 2005 Star in the Arts award from the United Arts Council of Collier County.
Architecture actually was one of two careers among which Brown had to choose, according to her sister, Stacy Vermylen.
"She had to decide on either a career in music performance (piano) or architecture and she chose architecture," she wrote in an email about her sister, who was a classical pianist. Her offices, she pointed out, always included a grand piano.
Brown also was an artist, and known for her cooking skills.
"Above all, Andrea was a creative, vibrant, optimistic presence whose energy lit up any room that she entered," Vermylen wrote. "She will be sorely missed by the family members and friends who loved her and the many Floridians who appreciate contemporary architecture."
Memorial is coming this fall
Andrea Clark Brown is survived by her husband, John Long; her mother, Marilyn M. Brown; and her sister and brother-in-law, Stacy and David Vermylen, all of Naples; as well as her brother, Michael F. Brown and his partner, Cece Derringer, of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Hodges Funeral Home is handling arrangements; no visitation is planned. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes gifts in Andrea’s name to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation or Bryn Mawr College.
A Mass and celebration of her life will be scheduled for sometime in the fall.
Harriet Howard Heithaus covers arts and entertainment for the Naples Daily News/naplesnews.com. Reach her at 239-213-6091.
