Lost Jacksonville: Klutho's Cornices

[Metro Jacksonville]

Lost Jacksonville: Klutho's Cornices



For nine decades, the Florida Life Building was one of the the many wonders of the street experience in downtown Jacksonville.  You would be walking along Laura Street and then look straight up to something wonderful  Before the turn of the Millennium, these gorgeous sculptures were removed from the building.  Take a look at what we lost.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-sep-lost-jacksonville-kluthos-cornices

[benfranklinbof]

Another depressing article... It looked nice

[acme54321]

Does someone still actually have these?  I thought I read somewhere that they were removed and stored but that seems like wishful thinking.

[camarocane]

I sure hope Stache, or whoever renovates these buildings will take the original architectural style into consideration.

[acme54321]

these were dynamited right off the buildings.

However Kluthos (and Frank Lloyd Wright's) most accomplished local disciple, architect Bob Broward (the architect who designed many iconic structures here, and a descendent of Governor Broward) has the forms that the original cornices were made with.

Ah, that must have been what I read.

[mbwright]

WHY???
It would be great if they could be recast.  The ornamentation on the old buildings it a lost art.

[coredumped]

What happened to the vertical writing "JACKSONVILLE"? It looks like it was painted on the brick? Just faded way? Or did we pressure wash them in the name of public safety?

[strider]

Public safety - ironic that they are perhaps the most dangerous words ever used by a city employee. More damage has been done to the pubic spaces in the name of public safety than anything else, including old man time, has ever brought on it's own.

[Wacca Pilatka]

The vertical writing JACKSONVILLE was part of a sign for Jacksonville National Bank.  I think it was removed when the bank became part of NCNB.  Prior to that, I think there was a vertical sign for Florida National on the building, before Florida National went into the Ed Ball Building in the early 60s.

[iloveionia]

I believe there is a large piece of one of the cornices on 8th and Liberty in Spfld. I helped clean the yard and recall a large relic and am fairly certain this is where it came from as that is what I was told. Or maybe it was just an urban myth. I have a photo somewhere among my thousands of cool Spfld stuff. Regardless these cornices were bad ass.

[InnerCityPressure]

I actually like the new look better 

[I-10east]

I did a simple online search concerning this cornice/abandoned building correlation; The info is uniform throughout, it's a no-go situation. I looked at numerous municipal codes Detroit, Memphis, etc, and the info is the same just like Jax. Unfortunately, the FL Life Bldg was abandoned for such a long time, they really didn't have a choice.

I dunno about any of you, but would you trust walking underneath a wide cornice of an old long neglected abandoned building? There's a reason why that code is in place. Those cornices were very beautiful, but I'm satisfied in knowing that the city had their hands tied a long time ago. Atleast the building is still standing.

[strider]

I suspect that the removal of the cornices was a knee jerk reaction to a small problem at the time.  Often works that way.  No matter at this point.  The good is that if the building were to be returned to it's original look they can easily be duplicated in modern light weight materials and permanently fastened in place such that they can adorn the building safely for many decades. Heck, in today's world of 3 D printing, a prototype can be made from the pictures alone. Might be the best way as then you might be able to scan the building and make parts that fit exactly to what is there still. Would be a fun project to do.

[mbwright]

oh no, the sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!

[TomHurst]

KBJ designed the Independent Life Building (Wells Fargo Center). Did Bob work for KBJ in the 1970s?

No Lake, Bob never worked for KBJ to my knowledge.  He's had his own practice going back to the 50's.  KBJ designed both of the Independent Life Bldgs (Duval & Julia as well as the old Modis Tower).  I don't believe Bob was involved in either of those.
However, he did the the renovation to the Marble Bank back in the 80's that unfortunately all got ruined due to water intrusion.