What if Jacksonville suddenly woke up?

[Ocklawaha]

Imagine! A Jacksonville political connection to Napoleon...

Well historians?

Well?

That sure explains Waterloo!

Ocklawaha

[RiversideGator]

First somebody has to wake up Jacksonville's City leaders, or should I say the good ole boy network that is still alive and starting another generation, and make them stop tearing down the true historical architecture of our city in order to build new visions of a past this city didn't have.  The new public library is a perfect example of this.

What past did we not have?  And what is the new public library a perfect example of?  We certainly had a large number (and still do) of neoclassical structures in Jacksonville and this style (postmodern) was an obvious reference to that fact.

[jason_contentdg]

First somebody has to wake up Jacksonville's City leaders, or should I say the good ole boy network that is still alive and starting another generation, and make them stop tearing down the true historical architecture of our city in order to build new visions of a past this city didn't have.  The new public library is a perfect example of this.

What past did we not have?  And what is the new public library a perfect example of?  We certainly had a large number (and still do) of neoclassical structures in Jacksonville and this style (postmodern) was an obvious reference to that fact.

That library is a total joke.  I can post a series of images of new libraries in similar cities that have actually tried to bring their cities architecture forward.  Our library totally ignores the pedestrian at street level, although it does have that lovely rooftop garden, which the last time I was there was filled with weeds.

It's a reference of bad design, and I love how it ties back in to the surrounding historical building that had been torn down by super gluing some of the leftover architectural artifacts to the north side of the building, on stucco placeholders.

And don't even get me started about "postmodern" architecture...

Seattle's public library:



Our city jewel:

[RiversideGator]

First somebody has to wake up Jacksonville's City leaders, or should I say the good ole boy network that is still alive and starting another generation, and make them stop tearing down the true historical architecture of our city in order to build new visions of a past this city didn't have.  The new public library is a perfect example of this.

What past did we not have?  And what is the new public library a perfect example of?  We certainly had a large number (and still do) of neoclassical structures in Jacksonville and this style (postmodern) was an obvious reference to that fact.

huh?

What dont you understand?

The sacrilege perpetrated against the historical fabric of this city by the construction of the library is EXACTLY what Jaxnative is talking about.

to think that they tore down the last Jazz Age skyscraper in the state of Florida to build it is sad enough.  However to rip the details of the buildings that were actually on the site and then elmer's glue them into place on the unrelenting brick walls of Duval is obscene.

and ghoulish.

I was not in favor of demolishing the buildings to make way for the new library either.  I was discussing the design of the new library in isolation.  Perhaps you should not put words into my mouth.   

BTW, they did not tear down the "last Jazz Age skyscraper in the state of Florida" to make way for it.  The Rhodes Furniture Bldg should not have come down but the Laura Street trio are of similar vintage.

[RiversideGator]

First somebody has to wake up Jacksonville's City leaders, or should I say the good ole boy network that is still alive and starting another generation, and make them stop tearing down the true historical architecture of our city in order to build new visions of a past this city didn't have.  The new public library is a perfect example of this.

What past did we not have?  And what is the new public library a perfect example of?  We certainly had a large number (and still do) of neoclassical structures in Jacksonville and this style (postmodern) was an obvious reference to that fact.

That library is a total joke.  I can post a series of images of new libraries in similar cities that have actually tried to bring their cities architecture forward.  Our library totally ignores the pedestrian at street level, although it does have that lovely rooftop garden, which the last time I was there was filled with weeds.

It's a reference of bad design, and I love how it ties back in to the surrounding historical building that had been torn down by super gluing some of the leftover architectural artifacts to the north side of the building, on stucco placeholders.

And don't even get me started about "postmodern" architecture...

Seattle's public library:



Our city jewel:

Agreed.  The library design is marginal.  It could have been a lot better.  But, it could have been a lot worse too.

[jason_contentdg]

First somebody has to wake up Jacksonville's City leaders, or should I say the good ole boy network that is still alive and starting another generation, and make them stop tearing down the true historical architecture of our city in order to build new visions of a past this city didn't have.  The new public library is a perfect example of this.

What past did we not have?  And what is the new public library a perfect example of?  We certainly had a large number (and still do) of neoclassical structures in Jacksonville and this style (postmodern) was an obvious reference to that fact.

That library is a total joke.  I can post a series of images of new libraries in similar cities that have actually tried to bring their cities architecture forward.  Our library totally ignores the pedestrian at street level, although it does have that lovely rooftop garden, which the last time I was there was filled with weeds.

It's a reference of bad design, and I love how it ties back in to the surrounding historical building that had been torn down by super gluing some of the leftover architectural artifacts to the north side of the building, on stucco placeholders.

And don't even get me started about "postmodern" architecture...

Seattle's public library:



Our city jewel:

Agreed.  The library design is marginal.  It could have been a lot better.  But, it could have been a lot worse too.

Well. that's one excuse I'm tired of hearing though.  Of course it could have been done worse, but who cares about that.  Instead of aiming at mediocrity at the beginning, why not use the imagination and try to aim for the stars at the beginning, and then maybe have to make some changes and value engineer from there. 

Don't start at the middle of the pack and then go down from there...

[thelakelander]

I believe the Laura Street Trio buildings are from an earlier decade and era.  The Rhodes Building may have been the last highrise built before the Great Depression and while the Barnett, Carling and others are from the same time period, the Rhodes was probably Jacksonville's best example of Chicago School highrise architecture.

Nevertheless, as far as the new library goes, the bad part of the design is that every elevation of the building, other than the front, was evidently an afterthought.  The design has rendered the retail spaces across the Monroe and Duval Street as dead zones.  A good traditional or contemporary design would have found a way to work with those streets as well.  

My dream scenerio would have been a project that keep the old buildings on that block and placed the library on surface parking lot block, like the one the pocket park and Salvation Army occupy.

[thelakelander]

We would be more like Boston than Birmingham.

We could be more like Birmingham too.  They're getting ready to spend $33 million to construct a starter streetcar line that will connect all of their inner city attractions and downtown neighborhoods together.

[Ocklawaha]

will connect all of their inner city attractions and downtown neighborhoods together.

I'm afraid unless someone bellys up to to the bar, the above statement answers it for Jacksonville... "inner city attractions". Okay, NAME 10 that would make you pull off the freeway. We simply have to put the boot to the hind quarters of certain people in City Hall. The AIA plans for Randolph sound fantastic, but I didn't see a soul there willing to ante-up. I bet the TOD thing is all Socialism Crap that somehow got mixed up with TOD ONLY IN THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF JACKSONVILLE! The Transit Authority doesn't buy and build TOD's, that is the private sectors job, thus DEVELOPMENT as in tax money, income, jobs, returns. All this BRT hype about tearing down old shopping centers for a bus station with a laundry mat and news stand is pure BULL. Real transit will bring about real TOD. Likewise, something very cool would get folks out of their cars and downtown. A few we've mentioned...

Negro League HOME Phillip Randolph-Pullman Porter-Red Cap Museum
Heritage Streetcar Line WITH museum (see I put it number 3)
New Landing
Bay Street Station
Southern Fried Rock Hall of fame
giant fish tank
maritime museum
Seminole game center

Which of the above are active?

OCKLAWAHA

[Charleston native]

Stephen, thank you for posting some positive things about the city. At times, it can be discouraging for me to read some of these posts as I hope to live down there.

[Ocklawaha]

THanks Stephen, you've just named 10 great reasons to build my streetcar line as the neck-piece on this string of pearls. I hope JTA is watching, and Mr. Peyton? How about you? With the Skyway and the Streetcar we would be the only city in the world where Buck Rogers Transit, meets Mr. Hardy and Mr. Tom Mix.


Ocklawaha

[jrtmom]

And we have a number of great parks too!  In my neck of the woods we have Confederate - with the beautiful Women of the South sculpture and the rose arbor...not to mention the Springfield Dog Park!  And Klutho, with the bandstand, the ball field, the fountain....and those two are just a small part of the near-downtown parks.  What about the Treaty Oak??  Lots of cool stuff all walkable. 

[downtownparks]

Your right JRT. Another great park that is vastly underused is A Phillip Randolph Park. It was done well, but spends much of its time locked up, or being used as a social services handout point.

With the nice little performing area, how about free-form jazz fridays, or big brother big sister weekly gatherings to use the playgorunds.

Sadly Oakland park and Liberty Park have been pretty well destroyed at this point, but if we could get some positivity back in the parks, it would be huge. In fact, if you were to focus much of the at risk youth efforts in the parks, you would probably reach a far greater number of kids earlier.

[Ocklawaha]

There would also be a tribute to A Phillip Randolph and a connection to the Pullman company.

Correction if I may friend Stephendare.

There would also be a Civil Rights Museum, a tribute to A. Phillip Randolph, tied to a Pullman themed railroad museum which leads to the Porters and the RED CAPS, which directs our visitors on to watch our new RED CAPS play ball in the Baseball Gounds of Jacksonville, "BIRTHPLACE OF THE NEGRO LEAGUES".

Oh and our Huguenot arch would span a freeway and not unlike Welthauptstadt Germania, it would be an arch more than twice the size of the Arc de Triomphe

OCKLAWAHA

[globatron]

Great work Stephen.  This was a pleasure to read.  The commentary off this article alone is award winning. 
I'm amazed by how much back and forth this site generates.  What about the arts in Jacksonville?  What would they be if you had your druthers?  I'd love to hear that vision.  You painted a great picture from an overall cultural perspective, but I didn't see any mention of contemporary art and where it would be if we had good leadership.  I have my own vision, but I'd love to hear yours.  Happy Holidays by the way.