Ruins of Jacksonville: The Florida Life Building

[Overstreet]

From all the vegtables growing out of the joints and the stains I'd say that most everything up top has water intrusion problems. A lot of that would have to be removed and new support structure and ties installed. An "open" building can have a lot of hidden damage.

[coredumped]

Man this site is depressing sometimes:(

The change to fix that building up was during the boom, now I fear it may be lost, mother nature is claiming it again!

[thekillingwax]

I'm all for trying to save things that can be saved but would you ever really be able to bring this one back? I don't even want to try and imagine the costs of having the cornices replaced, if it's even possible. Some places have been so irreparably disgraced and disfigured that I think it'd be better to just try and move on. Seeing it in its current state is almost nauseating, especially when you examine the details.

[thekillingwax]

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it would be cost effective considering what other issues the building may have, no way to know unless someone's able to get into the building, especially the upper floors and properly survey what needs to be done. I'm usually an optimist but this place just looks bad.

[fonz]

I have toured the trio within the last year and all the buildings have been gutted down to the "bones", which appeared sound.  I think the best use for the buildings would be some combination of restaurant/boutique hotel/retail but therein lies the real problem for investors.  Not enough available parking.  It's more the cost of constructing yet another garage that makes the project financially unappealing than the rehab.  Unfortunately the existing garages nearby do not have enough vacant space.

These are about the coolest buildings I have toured in Jacksonville.  A lot of the architectural detail inside the bank building has been lost but much of it remains.  The bank vault in the huge basement the bank building and the Florida Life building share is pretty neat.  Hopefully someone smarter than me can figure out a way to make something work.

[vicupstate]

^^ 
Regarding the parking, wouldn't a NEW building have the same issue?  A parking garage next to a new building, doesn't cost any more than the same garage next to an old one. 

Is the difference that a new building could be larger, and thus could spread the cost of the garage over more rentable square footage?

This building can be restored, but it may require a public investment to justify what market economics can't.  Personally, I'd rather spend $2mm of public money to give to an investor to make this deal work, than spend it on a surburban-style Seafood restaurant in LaVilla that was doomed from the start.

The thing is, given the current economy, even if the plan made sense on paper, the banks likely won't lend the money.  That may change eventually, but will the buildings continue to deteriorate?  Are they in 'stop-loss' condition currently?  I seriously doubt it.       

[thelakelander]

Other than the Marble Bank, they are not properly enclosed to slow down the rate of deterioration.

[choosing2disappear]

the skinny klutho was used in 2001-02 in a military exercise involving soldiers repelling off a helicopter and kicking in windows during their "maneuver". (the Rhodes building and the Roosevelt also had synchronized assaults).


how do i attach a photo to a post??

[Wacca Pilatka]

The original cornispeices were glazed terracotta, of the type that adorn the St. James Building.  I cant imagine that it would be any more expensive than demolition and starting over from scratch again.

Nor any more difficult.

And even without the cornice, which is a terrible loss, there is plenty of fantastic detail in the facade, especially around the main entrance.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Well there is sometimes a difference between 'historic' and 'antique'.  The building of Skyscrapers was something that it never occurred to the swiss to do for a few thousand years, after all.

I believe this might have been amongst the first skyscrapers built in Florida.

I think this was probably the third office skyscraper built in FL?  The Bisbee, another component of the Trio, was the first to break ground (1909), and the first Atlantic Bank building on Forsyth came not long afterward.  Both were completed in 1910 if I remember right.  I am pretty sure the Florida Life broke ground in 1912, as it was under construction concurrently with the St. James Building.  A couple of the high-rise hotels (Seminole, Mason/Mayflower), if we want to count them as skyscrapers, may have predated it, but those of course have been demolished.  I don't think the Rhodes building went up until 1914 and I want to say 1915 on the Heard Building that was then Jax's tallest at 15 stories.  I think that's it on the pre-1920 high rises with the next wave having come in around 1926 (Barnett, Atlantic Bank annex building on Adams, George Washington Hotel, Park Lane Apts., Carling, 11E).

[thelakelander]

Here is a list of all the old towers, when they were completed and when a few were demolished.  It looks like Jacksonville's demolition party was pretty live and well in the 1970s.

1909 - Bisbee Building (10)
1909 - Atlantic National Bank Building (10)
1910 - Seminole Hotel (10) - demolished 1974
1912 - Florida Life Building (11)
1912 - Mason Hotel (12) - demolished 1978
1913 - Heard National Bank Building (15) - demolished 1981
1914 - Rhodes-Futch-Collins Building (10) - demolished 2002

"At 7 a.m. tomorrow, Jacksonville will implode the 10-story Rhodes-Futch-Collins Building on Main Street. The demolition is scheduled to bring the 88-year-old building crashing down in a matter of seconds, making way for construction of the new main library.
The city acquired the Rhodes building after voters approved a half-cent sales tax hike for the Better Jacksonville Plan in 2000."
Demolition clears way for new library - Times Union 8/16/02

1926 - George Washington Hotel (13) - demolished 1976
1926 - Carling Hotel (13)
1926 - Barnett National Bank (18)
1926 - Atlantic National Bank Annex (10)
1926 - Lynch Building "11 East" (17)
1927 - Greenleaf & Crosby Building (12)

[buckethead]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/posrus/3165586182/in/photostream/

On the upper right side of the page linked to above there is a slide show feature that has tons of great Jax pictures. I would add some of them to this page but sadly, I am unqualified in that respect.

[Timkin]

Can anyone provide a picture of this building when the Cornices were present?  I MUST have walked by this building as a child, but I just cannot remember what they looked like.

[Jaxson]

What was the purpose behind tearing down the George Washington Hotel? 

[Wacca Pilatka]

What is that Hotel Jefferson pictured in the Kloeppel postcard?  I've never heard of it.  That's not the Florence Court building, is it?