About the Florida Life
Quote
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.
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 PMNor 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
September 15, 2009, 06:15:41 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.
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
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
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
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.