Laura Street Trio

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The Laura Street Trio: Florida Life Building (left), Marble Bank (front) and Bisbee Building (right)

The Laura Street Trio is an ensemble of three historic buildings on and near Laura Street in Jacksonville , Florida . The trio consists of two skyscrapers at right angles to each other , the Florida Life Building and the Bisbee Building, as well as a third building, the Old Florida National Bank (or Marble Bank ), which is flanked by the two skyscrapers. The three structures were built after the city ​​fire of 1901 and are architecturally significant, but currently endangered.

Buildings

Old Florida National Bank

The Old Florida National Bank

The oldest of the three buildings, the Old Florida National Bank, also known as the Marble Bank, is on the corner of Forsyth and Laura Streets. It was originally built as the Mercantile Exchange Bank in 1902, a year after the city ​​fire that destroyed most of downtown Jacksonville in 1901 . The architect Edward H. Glidden designed the building in the style of neoclassicism . It was acquired in 1905 by Florida Bank & Trust, a predecessor of today's Florida National Bank , who then renewed and expanded it. It was renovated again in 1916 to accommodate a large counter hall with a skylight , stucco details and a coffered ceiling. Another refurbishment in the 1950s added suspended ceilings that were used to hide the skylight and other details. This suspension was removed in 1976 by the building's then owner, Jacksonville National Bank, when they undertook a major restoration of the building's original appearance.

However, in the 1990s the building was sold and subsequent owners let it deteriorate dramatically.

Bisbee Building

The Bisbee Building

The Bisbee Building was the second of the three buildings built between 1908 and 1909 and is adjacent to Marble Bank on Forsyth Street. It was designed by the prominent Jacksonville architect Henry J. Klutho in a Prairie style influenced by the Chicago School . Its construction coincided with a race for the city's first skyscraper against two other ten-story structures, 121 Atlantic Place and the Seminole Hotel. The Bisbee Building was finished first, but 121 Atlantic Place was a little higher after its construction, so that it replaced the Bisbee Building as the tallest building in Florida at the time. The Bisbee Building was the first high-rise built with reinforced concrete in the southern states . The design was originally only 26 feet wide  , but the need for office space in the new modern building prompted the client to make the building larger.

Similar to the other two buildings in the ensemble, the Bisbee Building was eventually abandoned and its rapid decline began.

Florida Life Building

The Florida Life Building (in the background)

The Florida Life Building was also designed by Klutho and was built between 1911 and 1912. It stands directly on the back wall of Marble Bank and is the only one of the three structures whose front actually faces Laura Street. It was built at the same time as the St. James Building (now Jacksonville City Hall) planned by Klutho . It is 45 meters high and has eleven floors; it was the tallest building in the city and in all of Florida at the time of its construction, although that primacy only lasted a year until the Heard National Bank Building was completed . Wayne Wood of the Jacksonville Historic Landmarks Commission judges the narrow and well-proportioned tower that the building was "Jacksonville's purest representation of a 'skyscraper' and perhaps still is". Like the Bisbee Building, this building is an example of a Klutho Prairie Style building influenced by the Chicago School.

The building was built for the Florida Life Insurance Company, but the company collapsed in 1915. The building changed hands several times over the years. In 1994, the then owner of the structure, Nations Bank , had the original capitals removed from the top floor, damaging the building. Like the other two buildings, this structure was also exposed to decay.

Restoration plans

In the 2000s, the Laura Street Trio was recognized as one of the most significant and endangered historical architectural ensembles in Jacksonville. Under Mayor John Adrian Delaney , the City of Jacksonville bought all three buildings in 2002 to transfer them to a contractor who could restore them. An Orlando contractor bought Laura Street Trio and the nearby Barnett National Bank Building , but went bankrupt before renovating the buildings. The project came to a standstill, and in 2010 a Jacksonville-based group of investors and a Tallahassee company presented a new plan to renovate the three buildings and the Barnett National Bank Building, which included the construction of a fifth building. In June 2011, the Atkins Group applied for tax relief in the amount of five million dollars to be able to pursue the Phase I of the project.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Jacksonville’s Most Endangered Historic Buildings ( English ) In: jaxhistory.com . Jacksonville Historical Society . 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  2. ^ A b Wayne Wood: D-5: Old Florida National Bank . In: University Press of Florida (Ed.): Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage . 1992, p. 61. ISBN 0813009537 . Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  3. ^ Wayne Wood: D-58: Atlantic National Bank Building . In: University Press of Florida (Ed.): Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage . 1992, p. 61. ISBN 0813009537 . Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  4. ^ A b Ennis Davis: A Century of Florida's Tallest Skyscrapers ( English ) In: metrojacksonville.com . March 6, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  5. ^ Wayne Wood: D-55: Bisbee Building . In: University Press of Florida (Ed.): Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage . 1992, p. 60. ISBN 0813009537 . Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  6. ↑ a b c d Wayne Wood: D-70: Florida Life Building . In: University Press of Florida (Ed.): Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage . 1992, p. 68. ISBN 0813009537 . Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  7. ↑ Earl Daniels: Delaney supports building 'purchase (English) . In: The Florida Times-Union , October 6, 2001. Retrieved November 4, 2011. 
  8. ↑ Local builders present $ 70M renovation for Laura Street Trio (English) . In: Jacksonville Business Journal , May 31, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2011. 
  9. ^ David Bauerlein: New team has big plans for a trio of Laura Street buildings (English) . In: The Florida Times-Union , May 25, 2010. Retrieved December 4, 2011. 
  10. ↑ Ashley Gurbal: Laura Street Trio developers plead for $ 5M tax credits (English) . In: Jacksonville Business Journal , June 21, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011. 

literature

Web links

Commons : Laura Street Trio  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Highest building successor
121 Atlantic Place Jacksonville
1912-1913
45 m 		Heard National Bank Building
121 Atlantic Place Florida
1912-1913
45 m 		Heard National Bank Building

Coordinates: 30 ° 19 ′ 39.5 ″  N , 81 ° 39 ′ 31.9 ″  W.