Peacock Condo

[bamajag]

Hi everyone. New to the board so bear with me. I've lived in Jacksonville for going on 39 years now but only the last 6 have been in Avondale. Recently I've really taken an interest in finding out the history of the building in which I live. I know from research that the Peacock Condo on St Johns Ave was built in 1926. I've heard stories that it was once a Jewish Community Center. I cannot find anything online about the building though. Does anyone have any information on this old building? From the outside I see touches of Art Deco but o
I'd love to see old pictures of the place and would love to know more about its history. Thanks everyone.

[Noone]

Welcome aboard. I'm sure the history will soon follow.

[rmangessr]

I don't know the history of this particular building but I seriously doubt there was a Jewish Community Center in Avondale. Diversity was not as valued back in the day as it is now.

[iluvolives]

It's actually the condo complex across the street from the Peacock condos. If you drive by you can see a picture of a torah on the St. Johns Ave facing side

[Dog Walker]

I don't know the history of this particular building but I seriously doubt there was a Jewish Community Center in Avondale. Diversity was not as valued back in the day as it is now.

Gee, then the Mays, Jacobs, Mizrahi's, Rosenblums, Setzer's, Benjamins and the hundreds of other socially prominent Jewish families weren't really part of Jacksonville's history?  That building in Springfield wasn't actually a synagogue?

From it's beginning Jacksonville has always had one of the largest Jewish populations of any city in the South.

You need to read some history.

[fsujax]

^^very true DG.

[Cheshire Cat]

Actually guys
rmangessr is correct.  If you do read some additional history and investigate further you will find out that the original neighborhood of Avondale had bylaws that prevented Blacks and Jews from owning a home in the neighborhood.  I was shocked when I first found this out.  There was a man in the Haydon Burns Library who was in the research department and had a website about Jacksonville.  His first name was Glen Emery, I used to go and talk to him and do research.  It was on a trip there while researching Avondale where I live that I found out about the bylaws. 

While there was a large Jewish population in Jacksonville, it was for a time restricted from living in Avondale.


I found his website which is still up and contains lots of Jax history.  Glen unfortunately passed away a few years back.  http://www.jaxhistory.com/Jacksonville%20Story/Non-Web%20Places%20for%20History%20&%20Genealogy.htm

[david-massett]

I lived in this building and wondered about the torah on the side.  There are also some interesting paving stones that I think could have been associated with its use in the Jewish Community (whatever that was, I'm not sure).  I heard a rumor it was once apartments for Jewish Seniors, which would make sense.  The address is 2909 St Johns Ave, known as The Avenues apartments.

[Dog Walker]

The Jewish population of Jacksonville moved out to the Southside a long time ago and so did the synagogues and Jewish Community Centers.

I don't think anyone ever paid any attention to the deed restrictions in Avondale or any other part of Jacksonville except to keep out dark-skinned people.  Too much money!

[tufsu1]

the building used to be the location of Congregation Ahavath Chesed (The Temple), the reform synagogue in town....the Jacksonville Jewish Center (conservative synagogue) was located in Springfield.

[If_I_Loved_you]

the building used to be the location of Congregation Ahavath Chesed (The Temple), the reform synagogue in town....the Jacksonville Jewish Center (conservative synagogue) was located in Springfield.

http://exhibits.uflib.ufl.edu/jewishjacksonville/

[Dog Walker]

the building used to be the location of Congregation Ahavath Chesed (The Temple), the reform synagogue in town....the Jacksonville Jewish Center (conservative synagogue) was located in Springfield.

So much for the deed restrictions.

[Cheshire Cat]

I think the days of the Jewish center came many decades after the original deed restrictions in Avondale.  The restrictions came very early in Avondales history when what was Magnolia Plantation was parceled off for home development.  We are talking very late 1800's and early 1900's. 

[rmangessr]

tufsu1, Thanks for the correction. I learned that I was incorrect regarding the synagogue in Avondale this weekend but couldn't find any specifics.

I have seen a copy of the original 1948 deed on our house in the Country Club Estates section of Ortega and it contained language restricting the sale to or occupancy by certain ethic and racial groups.

Again thanks for setting the record straight.

[Dog Walker]

I think almost all of the early developed sections had deed restrictions of some sort, mostly prohibiting the sale of any property to African-Americans.  I know that Miramar and St. Nicholas did.

Forget the year, but think that deed restrictions were about the earliest of the Jim Crow laws to be overturned.