Said to mean 'House of John' in Venetian dialect, Cà d'Zan (1924-26) was the grand winter home of the Ringlings. Fronting Sarasota Bay, it's a spectacular combination of Italian and French Renaissance, baroque, Venetian Gothic and modern architecture. The lavish house has a ballroom, dining room, and taproom (with vaulted ceilings and stained-glass panels); the ballroom and playroom had their ceilings painted by Willy Pogany, a set designer for the Ziegfeld Follies.

There's a catwalk around the 30ft-high court, or living room, with very fine tapestries throughout. In fact, the whole stupendous place is filled with eclectic and opulent decorative arts and furnishings. It exemplifies the lifestyles of the rich and famous, à la the Roaring Twenties. John's bedroom features an enormous ceiling painting, Dawn Driving Away the Darkness by Jacob de Wit. The bathroom contains such necessities as a bathtub hewn from a solid block of Siena marble, which also covers the walls.