If Walls Could Talk: LaVilla's Genovar's Hall

[jaxnyc79]

The attitude that we should demolish historic structures because they're blight is how we got into this mess in the first place. It's a non-starter now.

That's not exactly what my post said and my post has nothing to do with your city's decision to wipe out an entire neighborhood.  To an outsider, the lot looks like a trash heap and dump and an example of a cheap city's neglect to look after itself.  My post proposed the installation of some sort of monument with a write-up on the site's significance, so that a passerby could consume its historical significance while the lot awaits whatever is planned.  Cities with historic districts and landmarks therein do this all the time.  Having said that, I personally don't find the structure all that architecturally significant or compelling, and found a site with a rendering of a renovated Genovar's Hall, and yawned...you guys are grasping here.  This is no Cowford Chophouse or Laura Street Trio or Barnett Bank Building.  But downtown has a litany of needs, so tearing this down isn't priority, and yes, complementary infill between remaining structures is a great idea, but my God, do some sort of clean-up on an interim basis.  A couple years back, while in Berlin, I saw a mid-rise building under renovation totally wrapped in some sort of brick-designed industrial fabric, and in many other cases, I saw scaffolding covers or canvases.  Jax should get familiar with that approach and at least cover up these embarassments while they await their next chapters.

A monument could be placed whether the building is demolished or not. It would be more meaningful if the building was there. Destroying it is the same line of thinking that didn't work before. Buildings don't have to be a Cowford Chophouse to be historically significant and worth restoring. The ruins of the slave cabins at Kingsley Plantation are as significant as pretty much any other historical structure and we're definitely better off with them there than if they'd been torn down for being "blight".

You wish to preserve the shell of Genovar's Hall, even if that means it sits in its current, fully-exposed, fully-dilapidated, and fully disemboweled state for the next 20 years, and I'm indifferent, or at the very least I'd like to see it wrapped up or cosmetically enhanced on an interim basis while it awaits full renovation so that it doesn't just look like some corner of downtown has a trash heap with no description of its historical meaning.  So we'll agree to disagree.  I'm not advocating it be torn down necessarily, but by God, tidy up Jax.  Cosmetics matter.  Maybe the city can't find the money to properly renovate, but by God, put some lipstick on the pig in the interim.

Cabins where men were treated as chattel versus a rundown performance hall - 2 different things.  Just my perspective.
Kingsley Plantation requires a different lens anyway, because you're talking about preserving old structures out in the boondocks, or 40+ minutes from the central business district, versus what's happening in LaVilla.

[Tacachale]

The attitude that we should demolish historic structures because they're blight is how we got into this mess in the first place. It's a non-starter now.

That's not exactly what my post said and my post has nothing to do with your city's decision to wipe out an entire neighborhood.  To an outsider, the lot looks like a trash heap and dump and an example of a cheap city's neglect to look after itself.  My post proposed the installation of some sort of monument with a write-up on the site's significance, so that a passerby could consume its historical significance while the lot awaits whatever is planned.  Cities with historic districts and landmarks therein do this all the time.  Having said that, I personally don't find the structure all that architecturally significant or compelling, and found a site with a rendering of a renovated Genovar's Hall, and yawned...you guys are grasping here.  This is no Cowford Chophouse or Laura Street Trio or Barnett Bank Building.  But downtown has a litany of needs, so tearing this down isn't priority, and yes, complementary infill between remaining structures is a great idea, but my God, do some sort of clean-up on an interim basis.  A couple years back, while in Berlin, I saw a mid-rise building under renovation totally wrapped in some sort of brick-designed industrial fabric, and in many other cases, I saw scaffolding covers or canvases.  Jax should get familiar with that approach and at least cover up these embarassments while they await their next chapters.

A monument could be placed whether the building is demolished or not. It would be more meaningful if the building was there. Destroying it is the same line of thinking that didn't work before. Buildings don't have to be a Cowford Chophouse to be historically significant and worth restoring. The ruins of the slave cabins at Kingsley Plantation are as significant as pretty much any other historical structure and we're definitely better off with them there than if they'd been torn down for being "blight".

You wish to preserve the shell of Genovar's Hall, even if that means it sits in its current, fully-exposed, fully-dilapidated, and fully disemboweled state for the next 20 years, and I'm indifferent, or at the very least I'd like to see it wrapped up or cosmetically enhanced on an interim basis while it awaits full renovation so that it doesn't just look like some corner of downtown has a trash heap with no description of its historical meaning.  So we'll agree to disagree.  I'm not advocating it be torn down necessarily, but by God, tidy up Jax.  Cosmetics matter.  Maybe the city can't find the money to properly renovate, but by God, put some lipstick on the pig in the interim.

Cabins where men were treated as chattel versus a rundown performance hall - 2 different things.  Just my perspective.
Kingsley Plantation requires a different lens anyway, because you're talking about preserving old structures out in the boondocks, or 40+ minutes from the central business district, versus what's happening in LaVilla.

The issue is that tearing it down won't make it look any nicer or make the area any more vibrant. It would just turn the space into another vacant lot, or at most a monument in a vacant lot. One thing it would do is preclude the possibility of ever restoring it. Even if it was a really nice monument or museum or whatever, why spend the money to tear the building down and then erect a new one, rather than just restoring the actual building?

[heights unknown]

Lake, I had no idea there was a museum in the Clara White with such historically significant holdings.  Thank you for sharing that information.

Heights, thanks for sharing all those LaVilla memories.  That was a pleasure to read.

Thanks Wacca; my pleasure. I had always wished that community had remained a vibrant neighborhood, whatever ethnicity it hosted. Now there is no identity there, and no evidence, if very little of its history. I think different monuments, signs, etc., iterating historic places, events, and people in LaVilla would preserve its historic aspect.

[thelakelander]

Clara White Mission wants to put tiny homes on this block:

The Clara White Mission plans to build a village of tiny houses in LaVilla Downtown for homeless veterans and transform the historic Genovar's Hall into a community center.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/clara-white-mission-plans-village-of-tiny-houses-in-lavilla

[Tacachale]

Clara White Mission wants to put tiny homes on this block:

The Clara White Mission plans to build a village of tiny houses in LaVilla Downtown for homeless veterans and transform the historic Genovar's Hall into a community center.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/clara-white-mission-plans-village-of-tiny-houses-in-lavilla

Oh man, tiny houses are a really cool idea there. Don't love that use for Genovar's Hall, at least until there's an actual community that could use a community center.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Excited that the three shotguns would be restored in this plan.

[thelakelander]

It's nice to see someone finally look into doing something with the entire block. However, I do have a couple of concerns...or at least things I think should be considered by Clara White, the design team and COJ/DIA.



Regardless of new development use, one thing that should be consistent in the redevelopment of properties in LaVilla should be the placement of new structures in a manner that is consistent with the historic pedestrian friendly pattern the neighborhood once had. With that said:

1. Tiny homes should be built with setbacks similar to the old shotgun row houses that lined LaVilla's streets. In particular, for this block, the houses would be most appropriate lining Church Street with limited front and side setbacks (as illustrated in the map above). The worse thing that could happen is for a self contained, fenced in facility that turns the front facades of the new buildings away from the streets. That would create (or preserve) another dead block of limited pedestrian activity within the heart of the city and would be a complete underutilization of a critical LaVilla redevelopment site.

2. Tiny house facades should pay homage to the scale and design of LaVilla's shotgun architecture as opposed to the model being shown in local media. With the Richmond Hotel, Clara White Mission, Genovar's Hall, the Masonic Lodge, old Stanton, etc., this is the one area of LaVilla where appropriate infill can contribute to modern revitalization while preserving LaVilla's historical sense of place. One way to do this is architecture that pays homage to LaVilla's style and not mass produced tiny home architecture facade features that could be placed anywhere.

Tiny house model in paper:


Examples of authentic "tiny home" residential architectural detailing in LaVilla and the Eastside...








The last image captures 336 square foot shotguns still standing in the Eastside. Some of the proposed tiny houses will be larger. Front porch design, roof pitch, floor elevation, front and side building setbacks are important features that can make this development look nice, while paying homage to the neighborhood's history or looking cheap and out of place.



3. Broad Street - At this point, I believe tiny homes are an inappropriate use for the block's Broad Street frontage. Broad Street is a commercial street more appropriate for larger commercial or mixed use structures. Something more on the scale of the Richmond or Clara White Mission building itself, should face Broad. This centralized block (listed as Hotel Washington on the sanborn map above) is the most critical piece to restoring what's left of LaVilla's business district along Broad between Monroe and Union Streets. Tiny homes significantly hurt that from happening. With this in mind, I'd recommend excluding the east 1/3 of the block from the tiny house plan.











Looking at the images above, this stretch of Broad Street has enough buildings and storefronts remaining that it could be a place that's every bit as vibrant as a Beale Street in Memphis. The one block between all these existing historic jazz/blues era buildings is the one now being proposed for tiny houses. It would be more appropriate to have something the scale of a Vesctor LaVilla project placed on the side facing Broad Street. Without a doubt, we know there's a market for what they're doing, so perhaps this project can be shaped to allow for something more appropriate for a corridor like Broad on the east side?