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About the Florida Life
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Florida Life Building
117 North Laura Street
Date: 1911 - 1912
Architect: Henry J. Klutho
Builder: Frank Richardson
Construction on this building began a month after the start of Klutho's St. James Building (city hall), and it was completed two months before. Both buildings were constructed of reinforced concrete. The architect was no doubt very proud and busy to have two such great architectural works rising simultaneously on the city's skyline. Although the Florida Life Building was Jacksonville's tallest for less than a year, it was and perhaps still is Jacksonville's purest statement of a "skyscraper." It is a narrow, beautifully proportioned tower that soars vertically, giving an impression of being much taller than its actual eleven-story height. The lower two stories form the tower's base, richly adorned with glazed terra-cotta and originally featuring a suspended glass canopy over the building's entrance, similar to that of the St. James Building. Broad plate glass Chicago-style windows accentuate the Forsyth Street facade, drawing the eye upward along the slender pilasters to a crowning burst of terra-cotta scrollwork, which in turn supports an ornate copper cornice and a parapet. The dramatic scrolled capitals at the top of the pilasters are evolved from the intricate ornamentation used by Chicago architect Louis Sullivan, who is credited with being the "father of the skyscraper." The Florida Life Building fulfills Sullivan's definition of a skyscraper perhaps as well as any building ever constructed by Sullivan himself: "It must be tall, every inch of it tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it. It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exhaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a dissenting line." In 1914, a penthouse was added -- "a pretty little three-room cottage" -- and the rooftop was landscaped with grass and shrubbery. This was built as a residence for C.E. Clark, secretary of the Peninsula Casualty Company, which had its offices below and which was the sister company of the Florida Life Insurance Company, owner of the building. Klutho's majestic skyscraper outlasted the Florida Life Insurance Company, which went bankrupt in 1915.
Source: Page 68, Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage Landmarks For The Future
Photos of the Florida Life Building in the 1920s.
The Florida Life Today
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The Laura Trio consists of the Marble Bank Building, the Florida Life Building and Bisbee Building. Most everyone associated with the trio over the past decade — from the City to the Police and Fire Pension Fund to the Kuhn Companies — agrees the Marble Bank Building is the gem and other two can be taken or left, but preferably razed.http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=52743
Restoration
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"There are challenges with the Laura Trio. The negative is now another two years have elapsed and the buildings are sliding back. In today’s economy, the rehabilitation of two of the three buildings appears to be a financial no-go. To make it economically feasible, one of the two buildings (Florida Life or Bisbee) needs to go."http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=52743
An example of a narrow historic highrise being combined with modern construction in downtown Washington, DC.
Another Washington, DC example of preserving an older structure by integrating it into a larger feasible project.
With a little creativity, vision, blood, sweat and tears, the Florida Life Building can live on and serve as a direct architectural link between Jacksonville's past and future generations.
Article by Ennis Davis
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riverside planner
September 14, 2009, 06:11:50 AMThe state of these buildings is tragic and speaks volumes about our leadership's lack of commitment to Jacksonville's architectural history.
heights unknown
September 14, 2009, 09:30:58 AMA gem of a building. It's a shame our City has let it go the way of housing Bird Nests instead of businesses and companies. Hopefully someone will puchase this building, along with the trio, and the heart of our core will beat right once again.
Heights Unknown
jaxlore
September 14, 2009, 09:32:32 AMthat sucks they are great looking buildings
DavidWilliams
September 14, 2009, 09:37:27 AMWhen was the building last occupied (didn't see it in the article)? Looks to have been empty many years.
Lunican
September 14, 2009, 10:17:15 AMStanding near this building might be a bad idea...
http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/gallery/9623339_Erq4V#648531740_Wp4YZ-A-LB
mtraininjax
September 14, 2009, 10:25:06 AMIn light of the cities woes with buildings, I would look elsewhere for a buyer.
stephendare
September 14, 2009, 11:32:12 AMThe building was last occupied in the late 80s. I was there when the Corim Company had to dynamite the cornices off of that building.
They had demanded to be able to demolish them out of fear that they were going to fall. Despite the number of architects locally who told them that the cornices were sound, Corim was determined to have their way. They brought out the cranes, and couldnt physically knock them off, and ended up using a small dynamite charge to remove them.
It was terrible. This one event was the final mass demonstration that I remember of people fighting for the buildings downtown. We were all out on the street. After that, It was hard to get people at a protest.
These cornices were so huge and imposingover the street that sidewalk traffic would slow down as people stopped to oooh and aaah underneath them.
The Scheider family, a german investing group is most responsible for the terrible shape the trio is in. They bought them then refused to lease at a reasonable price, then threatened to tear the buildings down unless the city purchased them at a huge price (8 million). The City eventually purchased them and owned them briefly.
They then gave them to the Police and Fire Pension Fund which immediately sold the buildings at a huge profit to Cameron Kuhn.
Kuhn lost them a year ago, and now an investment group owns them (and is trying to sell them)
Considering how well made the Bank is it would be extremely surprising to find out that it was structurally unsound suddenly.
lindab
September 14, 2009, 11:35:05 AMWho owns this building and the other ones? The sign says Addison but that is just the agent, right?
My second time saying this: The city historic preservation department needs a marketing division. It would save these fine buildings and bring revenue back into a needed area of town.
ralpho37
September 14, 2009, 12:38:52 PMThis could be a beautiful building if it were renovated.
RM
September 14, 2009, 12:42:04 PMLove the diamond copper pattern in the cornice. Thanks for being the fill in on the memory gap there Mr. Dare. What authority did Corim Company have at that time, if their findings were disputable?
stephendare
September 14, 2009, 12:46:18 PMThey owned the building. The Historical Society had no power, except the social power of not getting invited to civilized dinner parties and nice homes.
Corim was a swiss corporation, They couldn't have cared less.
blizz01
September 14, 2009, 01:33:14 PMThat's probably laughable to the Swiss or most of Western Europe for that matter when considering that our "historical" structures mostly fall within the last 2-3 centuries & that wasn't even at the 100 year mark at the time.
Bike Jax
September 14, 2009, 02:03:27 PMIn a city that really cared about saving it's historic structures whiles also revitalizing it's urban core. The city could reach inside it's preverbal trousers to see if it still has a pair and use it's emanate domain powers to save these building.
Simply give the current owners building a limited time frame to bring the buildings up to a usable/inhabitable condition or the city will take ownership. Should (and when) the city takes ownership of any of the buildings. They should then give (yes I said give) them to pre-qualified persons/corporations that can follow thru to restoring these buildings. The city will get so much more out these types of dealing than they would ever get by sitting on their ass and watching these building crumble.
Lunican
September 14, 2009, 02:15:31 PMI can't help but think about what happened to the Rhodes Furniture building a few blocks away.
stephendare
September 14, 2009, 02:17:50 PMWell 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.
thelakelander
September 14, 2009, 02:21:19 PMFor a few months it was Florida's tallest.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-mar-a-century-of-floridas-tallest-skyscrapers
Wacca Pilatka
September 14, 2009, 03:12:32 PMThis is my favorite building in the world. Not much depresses me more than not being able to save it.
Stephen, I'm fascinated to learn this information about Corim because Bob Broward's Klutho book put the blame for the cornice destruction squarely on Bank of America. Was BoA actually involved to any meaningful degree?
stephendare
September 14, 2009, 03:14:26 PMIf I remember correctly it had to do with their financing of a project being dependent on the insurance company, who wouldnt cover it with the cornices intact.
That may be incorrect, but that is my memory of the issue.
However, we were all pissed with Corim because ultimately they made the decision.
Overstreet
September 14, 2009, 03:51:45 PMFrom 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.
stephendare
September 14, 2009, 03:55:11 PMalot of that will be air ferns and the kinds of plants that grow out of mortar. It might not be as bad as all that.
Crossed fingers.
coredumped
September 14, 2009, 06:38:02 PMMan 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
September 15, 2009, 12:56:00 AMI'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.
stephendare
September 15, 2009, 01:14:11 AMThe 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.
thekillingwax
September 15, 2009, 01:22:47 AMYeah, 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
September 15, 2009, 05:10:20 PMI 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
September 15, 2009, 05:29:41 PM^^
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
September 15, 2009, 05:41:59 PMOther than the Marble Bank, they are not properly enclosed to slow down the rate of deterioration.
choosing2disappear
September 15, 2009, 05:49:25 PMthe 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
September 15, 2009, 06:11:48 PMAnd 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
September 15, 2009, 06:15:41 PMI 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
September 15, 2009, 10:32:19 PMHere 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
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
September 15, 2009, 11:04:20 PMhttp://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
June 30, 2010, 11:49:31 PMCan 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
July 01, 2010, 08:06:17 AMWhat was the purpose behind tearing down the George Washington Hotel?
stephendare
July 01, 2010, 08:49:28 AMhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_George_Washington_(Jacksonville,_Florida)
The Hotel George Washington, on the corner of Adams and Julia Streets in Jacksonville, Florida, was a 15-story luxury hotel that was in operation from 1926 to 1971. The local firm of Marsh and Saxelbye served as architects.[1] In its later years, it was one of only two luxury hotels in the downtown area. By the 1960s, it was the only five-star hotel in the area after the demise of the Hotel Roosevelt.
On Armistice Day 1925, local businessman Robert Kloeppel announced to crowds in downtown Jacksonville that a luxury hotel would be built. Other investors built the Hotel Roosevelt (then called the Carling Hotel) to compete with Kloeppel, and both hotels were constructed throughout 1926. On December 15, the George Washington was complete. The mayor at the time, John Alsop, along with the current and former Florida governor, were on hand for ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Radios were installed in every one of the 350 rooms so visitors could listen to opening-day festivities, broadcast by radio station WJAX. [1] Kloeppel spent $1.5 million dollars of his own money to construct the hotel. The "Hotel George Washington" sign, built on the rooftop, was the first neon sign in Jacksonville.
The Hotel George Washington, in its heyday, was the center of cultural activities in Jacksonville. The George Washington Auditorium, built in 1941, was the biggest concert hall in town at the time (replacing the Duval County Armory), big enough for classical music events and cotillions. The Hotel housed a steak house, a cocktail lounge, a dance hall called the Rainbow Room, a Rexall drugstore and a barber shop. Charles Lindbergh stayed at the George Washington while visiting Jacksonville.
The Beatles were scheduled to stay there, but due to a mix-up regarding hotel occupancy, they were denied rooms. On September 11th 1964, the Beatles flew from Montreal to Jacksonville, Florida, in a trip that had been time delayed due to recent and extensive hurricane damage along the Florida coast, affecting the Jacksonville area. When attempting their arrival into Jacksonville, the Beatles were detoured to Key West, and were booked into the Key Wester Motel. It was then learned that the Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville would be unable to provide them with rooms at the last second.
Not allowing the difficulties of their arrival and their stay to stop them, the Beatles still appeared for the press conference at the Hotel George Washington, and their concert at the Gator Bowl. With civil rights being a heated issue in America in 1964, the Beatles had refused to accept the booking at the Gator Bowl until they received assurance that the audience would not be segregated by race. While eating with the press, Ringo stated, "We usually eat in the room, but seeing the hotel's got no room for us, we have to eat here." Due to the damage from Hurricane Dora, approximately one quarter of the people who had already purchased tickets were unable to attend the concert.
In 1964, most of the businesses which operated from the Roosevelt's ground floor moved into the George Washington. Despite the new infusion of business, behind-the-scenes turnover caused the George Washington to fall into disrepair. In 1963, original owner Robert Kloeppel sold the George Washington to dog track magnate Bill Johnston, who in turn sold the hotel to other investors in 1969.
After 1969, one by one, the businesses inside the ground floor went out of business. The hotel was closed in 1971 and torn down in 1973. Currently, the site is occupied by the new federal court building in downtown Jacksonville.
Bill Foley from the Times Union:
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111498/nef_allfoley.html
The George Washington loomed, too, on an Armistice Day, but it was one that was far from muted.
Hundreds of marchers paraded through downtown Jacksonville on Nov. 11, 1925. Guns and drums and banners and bands and patriotic speakers and a ball and great huzzahs and cheering marked the end of the Great War eight years before.
It was a grand time to announce a new hotel for downtown Jacksonville.
Not for years would Nov. 11 be a national holiday - in Florida it was proclaimed Liberty Day - but the date of the World War armistice had been deemed for several years a time to mark, revere and observe.
Robert Kloeppel announced the day before the big parade he would build a 15-story hotel at Julia and Adams streets. The news broke in the morning paper.
Kloeppel asked the taxpayers not for a single dime, but then he never had, and I am not sure he ever did.
Kloeppel had arrived in Jacksonville 20 years before, a young and penniless German immigrant with a work ethic and a good set of hands. He became a mechanic, a pioneer of flight, a real estate man and a hotelier.
By 1925 Kloeppel owned the Flagler Hotel, down by the railroad station, and property along Park Street, ''the rapidly developing business artery in Riverside that extends off the Lee Street viaduct connecting Riverside with the business district at the Jacksonville Terminal.''
He had become one of the city's largest tax-PAYERS when he announced he would build what the newspapers said would be ''the largest and most magnificent hotel'' in Jacksonville.
The cost would be $1.5 million, back when that was real money. The hotel would have 350 rooms, each with bath, hot and cold water, ice water for drinking and an electric fan.
The hotel site on the northwest corner of Adams and Julia streets was occupied by three two-story dwellings. On Dec. 15, 1926, the hotel changed the face of Jacksonville forever.
''Society turned out in force, and high officials of the state and city, and many visitors from all sections of the country attended to make the event one of the outstanding affairs of the social season,'' The Florida Times-Union said.
''The mammoth sign 'George Washington' blazed forth on the Jacksonville horizon last night with an added significance, and on Adams Street, automobiles roared up to the entrance to discharge loads of beautifully gowned women and formally attired men to lend a true metropolitan atmosphere to the scene.''
Mayor John Alsop was there, of course, and Gov. John W. Martin, and former Gov. Cary Hardee, and municipal radio station WJAX broadcast the grand occasion. (Each room in the new hotel had a radio loudspeaker and headphones.)
For the next 44 years the GW, as it became commonly known, was the true hub of the city.
Here came the conventions and the big meetings and the very important and the glamorous and the sacred and the profane. The Steak House and the auditorium and the cocktail lounge and the Rainbow Room and the coffee shop and the drugstore became the places to meet, whether for a drink, a seven-course meal, ham and eggs or a grilled cheese and shake.
Lindbergh stayed at the GW, and the Beatles, and me. Big bands played there and the School Boy Patrol danced there.
The GW Auditorium, added in 1941, was the only place in the city big enough for concerts and balls and boat shows, other than the Duval County Armory, which was a tad short of ambience.
Jacksonville revolved around downtown and the GW through the 1960s. By the 1970s, the gloss was gone.
The dynamic that doomed downtown claimed the GW as well. Kloeppel sold to dog track magnate Bill Johnston in 1963 and Johnston sold it six years later to people nobody remembers and it folded.
Brick-by-brick from the top down, the GW was torn down in 1973. We won't see its like again, $23 million from the public sock drawer notwithstanding.
stephendare
July 01, 2010, 08:54:58 AMRobert Kloeppel
A poor immigrant from Germany when he came to Jacksonville, Robert Kloeppel made a success in real estate and the hotel business and was the first man in Florida to fly. He became one of Jacksonville's most prominent residents of the time when, already owner of the Flagler Hotel, he built the George Washington Hotel in 1926, and later the Mayflower. For long after, the GW especially was a hub of Jacksonville activity and the place celebrities stayed when they visited town.
Kloeppel was also well known for adding $1,000 to the cash prize that lured Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic in 1927. His contribution resulted in the much-in-demand Lindbergh visiting Jacksonville a few months later.
Kloeppel's GW was a fixture of the downtown Jacksonville landscape until he sold it in 1963. It was torn down a decade later.
Wacca Pilatka
July 01, 2010, 09:01:11 AMWhat is that Hotel Jefferson pictured in the Kloeppel postcard? I've never heard of it. That's not the Florence Court building, is it?
stephendare
July 01, 2010, 09:07:06 AMAnd here, no doubt is why Kloeppel paid good money to Lindbergh
http://books.google.com/books?id=jdIClpM7DgQC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=Robert+Kloeppel,+jacksonville+florida&source=bl&ots=jaObcgr6oJ&sig=O9pJBfGpDi85hVUxcqld2dr4vZI&hl=en&ei=NI8sTPa_LYXGlQfKisHiCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CD8Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Robert%20Kloeppel%2C%20jacksonville%20florida&f=false
In 1908, Lincoln Beachey arrived in Jacksonville with an airship, the first of its kind in Florida, and one preceded by a catchy slogan: "Hark the herald angels sing: Beachey's ship is just the thing." He flew a fifty two foot long, torpedo shaped gas filled bag with a motor, remaining aloft for twelve minutes and thrilling the spectators below.
The enthusiasm generated by these feats led to the establishment of the Aeronautical Society of Florida the next year. Some members built a full sized plane, but because they could not afford to install an aircraft engine, they had to settle for an automobile engine. The young machinist who built the twenty three foot long plane with a forty foot wing span, Robert Kloeppel, had no flying instructions except what he learned from a mechanics magazine, but he bravely drove the plane across an empty lot, rose about five feet into the air, and then crashed to the ground. Kloeppel escaped uninjured, but he never flew a plane again.
stephendare
July 01, 2010, 09:12:49 AMThe Hotel Jefferson
905 West Adams Street, Jacksonville, Florida - A Kloeppel Hotel
1954, One of the South's finest small hotels. 125 Rooms with combination tub and shower baths. Modern as the best. Electric eye door. Air Conditioned Lobby and Coffee Shop. Garage connected with Lobby Entrance.
Timkin
July 01, 2010, 07:46:57 PMIt is just sickening what we allowed to be razed to be replaced by some of the (IMO) Hideous structures they were replaced by. I remember the GW , Mayflower, Robert Meyer ...also well remember them coming down
gridsketch
July 01, 2010, 08:45:05 PMAlbert Speer ""Hitler's architect" came up with The Ruin Value Theory ,Die Ruinenwerttheorie. It argues that buildings should be designed so that should a civilization fall, it's building will decay elegantly like the coliseum in Rome or the Parthenon in Greece. These would be buildings made of stone not iron. Our buildings today are steel, glass and aluminum. When "peak oil" comes all these glass towers will crumble because we wont be able to heat and cool them passively. When the rebar in concrete slabs get exposed to water they rust and loose their tensile strength causing floors to sag. Even if it's 80 years away we have start making buildings to last. Throw away buildings that are designed to last a few decades are a waste of our resources (big box stores, fast food joints, cheap suburban McMansions) are irresponsible to build. I could care less about aesthetic buildings. But buildings need to last long enough to justify their creation.
stjr
July 02, 2010, 12:37:27 AMI noted this once before about this Wikipedia artilce. This is incorrect. (Maybe a Wikipedia expert could edit it correctly.) The Federal courthouse sits where the Robert Meyer Hotel, Penneys, and Woolworth were. The GW's lot is vacant (big surprise) and owned by the City as part of the 7 blocks tied to the courthouse project. Its future use appears to be unidentified at present.
It's the blue lot sandwiched between the Ed Ball building and the Historic Federal Courthouse in the picture below:
I remember seeing a "circus on ice" in the GW's auditorium as a kid. Was THE place for what was going on in Jax. Nothing like it here today.
Timkin
July 02, 2010, 12:58:28 AMSo in reality, the Hotel really did not "NEED" to come down. How typical and unfortunate
thelakelander
July 02, 2010, 05:48:16 AMThe hotel was torn down for a parking lot. I wasn't around then but I wonder if the demolition was a result of the owner not wanting to pay for it's upkeep or taxes associated with a structure that large?
stjr
July 02, 2010, 11:45:38 AMI think owners are motivated, in part, to tear down buildings to avoid paying property taxes on the value of "improvements" when such improvements have little likelihood of producing returns in their then-current condition. We need to have policies that allow owners of older structures to carry them on the tax rolls at greatly reduced values that reflect the time and money it will take to bring them back to an economically feasible structure.
Another concern for building owners could be carrying liability and property insurance on condemned structures. The cost may be prohibitive or the insurance not available. No property owner wants to be exposed to naked liability. Again, it would be helpful for preservationists to find a solution to this issue as well.
Maybe MJ should do a survey of historic property owners and learn what their issues and motivations are. The results could be instructive in how to appeal to them to restore the buildings rather than tear them down.
Wacca Pilatka
July 02, 2010, 11:54:16 AMThe GW sure was torn down in a hurry. Out of service 1971, torn down 1973? To think I used to get mad over the Seminole's 7-year lapse before teardown. This one's even worse.
Anyone know if any part of the motivation for tearing down the Seminole had to do with Barnett's desire for additional parking for its employees? That seemed to have something to do with the teardown of the Heard, Ritzwoller, and Jackson buildings.