Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage: Landmarks for the Future

Rating:
Summary: Finding the emerald in S___ville
Review: A bit of background: Jacksonville was burned to the ground in 1901 in a city wide fire. It was already a large developed city at the time, and so there was a market for large buildings from the beginning. The city is not big on culture (more than a million residents and only two public museums) or any kind of preservation. When a building changes hands it is as likely to be demolished as renovated. Still if you know where to look it is possible to find representative buildings from each decade of the 1900's. Locals will be floored to learn that 128 buildings constructed before the 1901 fire remain.

This book provides a short write-up of each building deemed historically important. There is a black and white picture of the building. The address, date of construction, architects and builders are listed for each. Two to four buildings per page makes this cramped or action packed depending on your perspective.

Jacksonville is not big on preservation and it shows: This book was originally compiled in 1976 to commemorate the US bicentennial. Entries for buildings that have been demolished since then have not bee removed, but have instead been marked through with a large red demolished label. Let's just say there is a lot of red.

This is a book with a very specific audience. Libraries in Florida and especially Jacksonville should have a copy of this or an older edition (and many do). This is an invaluable resource to any one doing a thesis in the Jacksonville/north Florida area.

If you are attending the Superbowl and into architectural history, then visiting some of the buildings in this book could be interesting to do before or after the Superbowl. Be careful though. Many of these historic neighborhoods are run down crack towns. If you are driving through a neighborhood and notice many stray dogs, plush armchairs in the front yard, and every building you pass could use a paint job and a new roof then that would be a tip off. Be cautious in "Historic Springfield". The city is trying to gentrify this slum area full of period wood frame houses. The city is basically safe. It you have questions about any specific areas, then feel free to email me and ask.

Rating:
Summary: Gagewyn is a moron
Review: This is a thouroughly researched book that digs into the history of the Jacksonville area with a heavy emphasis on the historic architecture of such architects including Henry Klutho, Louis Sullivan and the many other architects reared under the Chicago and Prairie schools of design. It is quite popular among locals, and should provide some interest for those familiar with the city whether a resident or visitor. Having said that, I would like to respond to gagewyn's comments in his review regarding Jacksonville. Jacksonville, in fact, has 5 public museums, not the 2 he references. And the city of Jacksonville is 700,000, not 1 million. That is not to say Jacksonville is a cultural mecca, but we have our strenghts. And while I would agree that some buildings have been destroyed that were worth saving for their historical significance, I would challenge gagewyn to identify any city older than 50 years that hasn't lost buildings to the inevitble march of progress. Savannah, Charleston and Atlant are 3 southern cities all who have had significant buildings torn down to accommodate the needs of the present. Finally, a bit of a grammatical correction for gagewyn, who stated, "Jacksonville was burned down in...". That is totally incorrect and a significant error when talking about southern cities (as so many were burned to the ground during the Civil War. Jacksonville burned as a result of an accidental fire at a mattress factory that began a chain reaction throughout the mostly wooden structures. gagewyn's take regarding multi-story building development also shows a lack of architectural understanding (or perhaps intelligence) as it is quite expensive to build highrise or any multi story building in Florida as the sub-surface material is usually one of 3 materials: sand, clay, or water. Just as New York is built on solid rock, it is necessary to create a suitable foundation when building on soft material. So buildings in Florida are often 2-3 stories vs 10-20.

Perhaps gagewyn should go back to rating books about robot love (see his other reviewed books), and leave history to those who rely on fact.