The Armory (Key West, Florida)

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The Armory (March 2017)

The Armory is a former establishment of the US National Guard or a grouping thereof at the address 600 White Street (corner of White Street and Southard Street) in Key West in the Florida Keys in the US state of Florida . The building was planned by the architect TF Russell and completed in 1901 under the master builder John Thomas Sawyer (1853–1930). The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since March 11, 1971 . Sawyer's own home, Sawyer-Navarro House at 426 Elizabeth Street in Key West, was entered into the register a year earlier.

Another outstanding example of the architectural style of Architect Russell was the main building of William Curry's Sons , whose founder William Curry was once the richest man in Florida, and which also stood in Key West before it burned down in a fire in the early 1960s. It was only shortly before the fire that the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials classified it as worthy of preservation and a possible monument.

history

The Armory in the mid-1960s.

The arsenal was completed in 1901 after planning by the architect TF Russell under the direction of the builder John Thomas Sawyer (1853–1930) in 1901. The property for The Armory wasn't bought by Monroe County until the same year . It should support military units in their training and exercises and serve as readiness for local military reserves. As early as the spring of 1877, Key West had a voluntary military company with 80 members at the time; the so-called Key West Rifles . However, these were not managed professionally and dissolved shortly after the great fire of April 1, 1886 in Key West destroyed all of their equipment. Two years later, on May 9, 1888, a new 32-man company called Island City Guards was founded , which was already operating more professionally and which in the further course of time became Company 1 of the Second Regiment of Infantry of the Florida State Troops . These were subsequently absorbed into the United States National Guard .

Two years after construction, in 1903, ownership of the building was transferred from the county to the State of Florida, which in turn pays the costs, under a Supreme Court of Florida ruling that stipulated that the state was responsible for supplying and equipping arsenals for this refunded to the county. That money was then invested in the expansion of County Road , now known as Flagler Avenue . Subsequently, the house housed the troops and their equipment for years and also served as a training facility and training center during the First and Second World Wars . It then served as a temporary community center for the Key West community. After numerous buildings, some of them historic, in Key West were demolished or defaced in the 1950s and 1960s and a new architectural style and modern architecture were introduced, The Armory threatened to be demolished over the years . Although there was no major construction work in Key West compared to other cities in the country during this period and hardly any new buildings were built, the ravages of time gnawed at the buildings, with the center of the Old Town around the historic port in the 1970s in particular Years was characterized by many vacant buildings. Occasionally these buildings burned down over time or were severely neglected and in some cases left to decay.

Only after looking at tourism as one of the most important industries on the Keys and recognizing the importance of preserving the historical buildings, a change or a rethink could be achieved. After the city administration founded the Old Island Restoration Commission , which is still in existence today (as of 2017) and is committed to preserving the historic architecture in the Old Town, some buildings fell victim to demolition. Finally, in 1968, the Convent of Mary Immaculate , a large and architecturally significant building erected in 1857 without attracting much attention, was demolished. This also partly expressed the displeasure of the local population, which led to a resurgence of the movement for building preservation. As early as the following year 1969, the Armory , another historical building that was meanwhile in an advanced state of dilapidation, was to be demolished.

After the County Commissioner Joseph "Joe" Bernard Allen Jr. (1914-2006) learned of these plans, with the help of William Roberts of the Florida House of Representatives, a legislative act could come into force, establishing a so-called Preservation Commission , whose task it is to Identifying historically valuable buildings and areas (so-called Historic Districts ) in Key West and placing them under monument protection. The commission also took care of the raising of funds to restore buildings. This was subsequently also part of The Armory , which was then added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 11, 1971 . At the time it was added to the register, it was considered shabby, as can be seen from the photos from this period. Among other things, it was criticized that it was neglected and damaged by vandalism over the years, but was classified as worthy of restoration on the basis of an expert report drawn up in 1969 or 1970.

In 2006, The Studios of Key West opened their first location here to give a new artist community space for creativity. Since then, professional workshops and other creative and cultural events have also taken place here. After the headquarters of this institution until 2014, it moved to another building at 533 Eaton Street in 2015. However, a group of artists called Artists at the Armory remained in the building to this day.

Architectural style

The building in the Italianate style , known as an unusual timber frame construction , was one of the few arsenals in the state of Florida or generally in the southern states , as the financial resources were still considered very modest after the American Civil War . The building has a footprint of 62 × 90 feet and was erected in the aforementioned Italianate style or in the neo-Gothic style on a brick foundation. The first two floors take up the entire area of ​​the building on the corner lot and are covered with a gable roof. The very narrow top floor is only at the front of the building and is lined with two small towers with a slightly conical conical roof in the left and right corners of the house. Each of the two towers has six sides with just as many windows and, in a certain way, provides an all-round view.

The facade has the main entrance with wooden double doors, which was initially accessible via a brick staircase with three steps, but was modified several times from the 1970s. In the 1970s or early 1980s, the stairs were extended by a metal railing on both sides, which today (as of 2017) also no longer exists. Today there is a five-step staircase, the course of which is simultaneous on two sides, the steps maintaining the same width. There is now a wooden railing at the front of the stairs. Above the doorway there is a skylight made of clear glass in the vaulted cornice . Above the stairs and the main entrance there is a short wooden balcony on the second level, which basically extends over the entire entrance area. The door to the balcony is similar to the door of the main entrance below and also has a skylight, but it was smaller than the main entrance door. The cornice of the gabled roof of the floor comprises the two long sides of the building and end in a short Gesimsabschnitt ( engl. Cornice return ) to the front facade. The cornice on the top floor is a little more elaborate and has a central arch under which there is a window on the front facade. While the cornice on the floor below does not have any decorations, attention was paid to these decorations on this floor.

From the aforementioned small window on the front facade, you can also reach the flagpole located here, which for years had reached the small balcony above the main entrance, but today (as of 2017) it reaches about the height of the small window and allows the flag to be raised. The main entrance of the building leads to a lobby, from which a staircase on both sides leads to the next higher floor. A double door leads from the lobby to the 70-foot-long drill hall behind it , the drill hall , which encompasses the rest of the first floor. A large arch in the middle of the room supports the high ceiling. On the two long sides of the hall there are also balconies, which were built for the spectators of the military drills that took place here. The next higher floor is divided into various rooms and includes conference rooms, offices and storage rooms for the equipment of the troops at that time. There are also numerous tall sliding windows on the building's façades, which bring enough light and fresh air into the two floors of the main part of the building. On the two long sides of the building there are seven windows on the lower and eight windows on the upper floor. There are also four of these tall sliding windows at the front of the building.

By the time it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 11, 1971, according to the note at the time, only minor changes to the building since its construction 70 years earlier have been made.

literature

Web links

Commons : The Armory (Key West)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sawyer-Navarro House , accessed October 31, 2017
  2. ↑ William Curry's Sons - (Founded 1845 As Bowne & Curry) (English), accessed October 31, 2017
  3. ↑ William Curry on Find A Grave , accessed October 31, 2017
  4. ↑ Key West: Militia - Key West: The Old and the New , accessed October 31, 2017
  5. ↑ Official website of the Old Island Restoration Commission , accessed on October 31, 2017
  6. ^ Key West Armory the initial home to The Studios of Key West , accessed October 31, 2017
  7. ↑ The Armory on a photo from 1982 (photo 2 ), accessed on October 31, 2017

Coordinates: 24 ° 33 ′ 34.9 ″  N , 81 ° 47 ′ 38.5 ″  W.