Lost Jacksonville. Downtown Hotels: The Grande Dames

[Jaxson]

And my bet is that they will see demolition within 5 years.

I hiughly doubt the Carling will be knocked down anytime soon

I think that timkin was being sarcastic.  Based on how our city values historic buildings, it would be no surprise that our city leaders have a major boner for destroying more old buildings...

[finehoe]

^^Or bring in cruise ships...

[Timkin]

I was being sarcastic... In this city ...if its Historic .. and abandoned= condemned=ready for demolition.   I would never favor a historic building being demolished.. it simply is fact that so many of them have been razed...without a thought to what anyone else felt.

Seems there are two kinds of people when it comes to these places.. Those who care / want to see them spared , and those who do not care/ cannot wait to see them leveled.

[urbanlibertarian]

You don't have to love historic buildings to prefer an abandoned one to a parking lot or an empty lot.

[urbanlibertarian]

And...there are two kinds of people in this world: those who divide people into two groups and those who don't.

[Timkin]

Urban.. you're right..and I suppose I could just remain silent.

[Timkin]

And my bet is that they will see demolition within 5 years.

@Timkin - Now, the last thing that our city needs is encouragement to tear down more historic buildings!  ; )

I was entirely kidding ... I guess I have to really choose my words carefully or just say nothing at all .

[JaxNative68]

And we tore down the majority of it for "progress"?  Nice work Jacksonville!

[thelakelander]

Great article.  Loss of these structures amounts to ripping much of the heart out of the City's downtown.  It's no wonder it stays in the doldrums.  Unfortunately, we continue to destroy our splendid past and replace it with a less-than-splendid present.

So today....am I correct that only two of these buildings still stand?

I think so.  Just the Roosevelt/Carling and the Ambassador.

The old Richmond Hotel is still standing on the corner of Broad & Church Streets.  It doesn't get as much press because it was a luxury hotel build for blacks.



The Richmond Hotel was constructed in 1909 and was known as the finest hotel for  black citizens prior to desegregation. Guest over the years included Duke  Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. The three-story  hotel had 48 rooms and a tea room at street level. Today the upper floors are  boarded up and the first level is a furniture store.

[thelakelander]

Hotel DeSoto
Located in Springfield, on the corner of North Main and Phelps (today) Streets,  The Sunken Gardens south of the hotel is now known as Confederate Park.

The Hotel Desoto appears to be across the street from the terminal, along Bay Street.  The bridge in the foreground looks like the old Lee Street viaduct.  This area was known as "Railroad Row."

[thelakelander]

Here are a couple of great hotel images from an article we ran back in 2006.

Andrew Jackson


George Washington Hotel


Floridian Hotel in 1947


Seminole Hotel


Hotel Mason


The Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson Hotels


Windle Hotel


Hotel Aragon


Hotel Windsor & Hemming Park


The Robert Meyer and George Washington Hotels (the surface parking lot is now the Ed Ball Building.

[brainstormer]

I would love to see Hemming Plaza returned to a park with more green grass and less cement.

[Ocklawaha]

Hotel DeSoto
Located in Springfield, on the corner of North Main and Phelps (today) Streets,  The Sunken Gardens south of the hotel is now known as Confederate Park.

The Hotel Desoto appears to be across the street from the terminal, along Bay Street.  The bridge in the foreground looks like the old Lee Street viaduct.  This area was known as "Railroad Row."

Yup! This was in the days before "truth in advertising" and it IS a highly retouched photo that includes at least three separate scenes in Jacksonville.

The Foreground is indeed the location given...

The area of the bridge and beyond is taken from the corner of Lee and Bay, facing the FEC RY drawbridge. Even so the area to the left of the great sweeping curve into the bridge, is detailed with what appears to be Springfield Park! So from left to right one see's a North Main Street hotel, then Springfield park (someone removed about 8-9 blocks), and finally the terminal's sweeping curve away from town toward magical Miami...

You might find it interesting that there was NOT a street where they have "Water" Street coming off of the old Viaduct, however the Duval or Monroe's viaducts DID have such a turn, so they may have swapped the bridges, but the railings look like the Lee Street Viaduct, I believe Duval's and maybe Monroe's were an ornate solid side bridge-rail. BTW that classic bridge-rail on the bridge is the reason why I got excited over the new mini-bridge built over Hogan's Creek on East Bay... Somebody was paying attention and needs credit!

If this was supposed to be a view across Lee Street, everything across the street is wrong up to the railroad tracks. Even in the 1960's this area was still a sea of railroad track, industry and warehouses. The area where they have placed the park would have been the middle of the Terminal's East Throat... Spell that 32 tracks become TWO, and another couple of dozen cross over from right to left in the photo to reach docks and warehouses on the waterfront. Hardly the location for a city park, now or then!

This took a few takes to fully understand, a most cool photo, one would think they used "Photo Shop" but the cut and paste lines are pretty straight forward street edges, railroad track and bridge rails.

OCKLAWAHA

[Timkin]

Great article.  Loss of these structures amounts to ripping much of the heart out of the City's downtown.  It's no wonder it stays in the doldrums.  Unfortunately, we continue to destroy our splendid past and replace it with a less-than-splendid present.

The old Richmond Hotel is still standing on the corner of Broad & Church Streets.  It doesn't get as much press because it was a luxury hotel build for blacks.



The Richmond Hotel was constructed in 1909 and was known as the finest hotel for  black citizens prior to desegregation. Guest over the years included Duke  Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. The three-story  hotel had 48 rooms and a tea room at street level. Today the upper floors are  boarded up and the first level is a furniture store.

I have seen this building many times.. never realized it was a Hotel.. But its good that it has so far, escaped the wrecking ball.  My point was in the sarcastic comment, that we should save the few we have REGARDLESS of cost of Renovation..the same goes with School Four and the Fire Station.. If we (meaning our fair (?) Mayor can OVERSPEND tremendously on a Courthouse I would argue we really did not need at this point), we should do the same for our Historic Landmarks...namely 2 Hotels in the Downtown area that clearly are not falling in, and can be spared.

Just because someone is an Engineer for the City, does not mean Condemned=teardown.. The home I reside in now was condemned, meaning the owner had X amount of time to make the home comply, or pay to demolish it.  So I concur that a "Condemned" building does not equal "theres no turning back now, tear it down and fill another landfill with the contents"

[Ocklawaha]

You boys want to really make a point? Lay out those theaters and hotels on the old streetcar map... economic engine indeed!!

OCKLAWAHA