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The Heard National Bank Building. Image courtesy of State Archives of Florida.
Ten years after the Great Fire of 1901, Jacksonville had become a booming metropolis. Over the past decade, the city had increased in population by 103%, when John Joseph Heard, an Arcadia-based capitalist, decided to move to and invest in Jacksonville's flourishing market.
Heard had big plans for Jacksonville and the financial resources to pull them off. In 1911, Heard announced plans to construct a skyscraper that would house his bank while also being the tallest structure south of Atlanta. Heard broke ground on his $1 million, 15-story, 248' tall Heard National Bank Building in 1911, at the corner of Forsyth and Laura Streets.
Judge John W. Dodge. Image courtesy of Bench and Bar of Florida.
Heard would soon find out that his experience in Jacksonville would not be all peaches and cream. This is where former Duval County Judge John W. Dodge enters the picture. Born in Camden, SC in 1875, Dodge relocated to Jacksonville in 1900 and had become a Duval County Criminal Court Judge in 1904.
Dodge like Heard's high profile project so much, he decided to build his own tower. His company, the Dodge Building Company, "just happened" to own a 25' wide parcel of property on Laura Street, immediately to the south wall of Heard's project. With Heard's tower well under construction, the newspaper reported that a second 15-story skyscraper would be developed by Dodge. Dodge retained the services of Mark & Sheftall Architects to design his tower. Victor Earl Mark and Leeroy Sheftall, were two young architects who had recently opened their own office after working for H.J. Klutho. Their firm had quickly become Klutho's only local competitor in designing Prairie School style buildings.
Mark & Sheftall's design for Dodge's skyscraper. Image courtesy of The Architecture of Henry John Klutho, Fantasy Skyscrapers and Small Realities
Mark & Sheftall's Laura Street facade of Dodge's tower was an impressive example of Prairie School architecture. However, the floor plans had extortion written all over them. Each floor was 25' wide overall and 105 feet deep with no windows on the long, north facade that faced the Heard skyscraper. While the overall design of Dodge's skyscraper was impractical, it would make Heard's building practically worthless if it were constructed. According to a draftsman for Mark & Sheftall, Dodge commissioned the firm to design the building fifteen stories high, the same height as the Heard Building, and 105' deep, also matching Heard's project. This would place a solid block wall against Heard's south windows, cutting out the view and building's cross ventilation system. Since Heard was already under construction, it was said that he had no choice but to pay Dodge not to build his skyscraper.
The "U" shaped Heard Bank Building (light color) can be seen in this aerial in the upper left corner. The slightly taller "U" shaped Barnett Bank Building (dark color) can be seen less than a block away. Image courtesy of State Archives of Florida.
The aerial above, showing the proposed location and massing of Judge John W. Dodge's skyscraper.
Heard completed his tower and opened his new bank in 1913 but the bad luck would continue. Heard's bank was forced to close in 1917. However, this small town businessman drew on his personal fortune to repay 100% of the money owed to each depositor. After Dodge decided not to build his tower, he went back to practicing law, forming a partnership with Duncan U. Fletcher. Fletcher & Dodge's offices were located right across the street from the Heard Bank Building in Klutho's Bisbee Building. Mark & Sheftall's firm would continue to design impressive buildings across Jacksonville until going their separate ways in 1933. LaVilla's Masonic Temple (1912), South Jacksonville Elementary School (1917), now the San Marco Lofts, are examples of their work still standing in Jacksonville today.
Mark & Sheftall's Masonic Temple (1912-1916) on Broad Street.
Although Heard's bank closed in 1917, his building was Jacksonville's tallest until 1926 and a part of the Northbank skyline until it was demolished for a parking lot, along with downtown's oldest building, the Ritz-Woller (1876) in 1981. Today, all that remains from this era of extortion is the Heard Bank Building's monumental columns that once marked its entrance. The columns stood in their original location before being moved to storage at Haskell Company's Westside fabrication shop on 12th Street in preparation of the 42-story, $100 million Barnett Center (now Bank of America Tower) in 1988. Those columns are now located inside and in front of the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts.
H.J. Klutho's G.D. Jackson Building was demolished along with the Heard in 1981. Image courtesy of http://www.prairieschooltraveler.com/html/fl/lost/Lost-Treasures.html
The Heard National Bank Building's entrance was left to serve as an entrance to a surface parking lot, after the building was demolished by Barnett Bank in 1981. Image courtesy of the Jacksonville Historic Commission.
One of the Heard National Bank Building's monumental entry columns still in existence on Water Street.
Source: The Architecture of Henry John Klutho, Fantasy Skyscrapers and Small Realities
Article by Ennis Davis
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dougskiles
November 07, 2011, 06:49:46 AMFascinating story. Thanks.
Noone
November 07, 2011, 07:05:08 AMThanks for continuing to tell the history of Jacksonville.
KenFSU
November 07, 2011, 07:54:48 AM"Heard's bank was forced to close in 1917. However, this small town businessman drew on his personal fortune to repay 100% of the money owed to each depositor."
What a guy.
Thanks so much for yet another fantastic piece.
I've seen that column dozens of times and never realized where it came from.
fsujax
November 07, 2011, 08:00:22 AMgreat story. I remember seeing the old facade left standing downtown as a kid. It always intrigued me. I think it is neat that the columns were saved and installed at the TU Performing Arts Center.
duvaldude08
November 07, 2011, 09:56:47 AMAnother good read! Its just a shame how we razed downtown in the 80's. I dont see how they ever thought this was a solution.
Wacca Pilatka
November 07, 2011, 11:26:57 AMThe Heard building, the G.D. Jackson building featured in the article, and the Ritz-Woller building (a Fire survivor and the oldest in downtown) were all razed in 1981 for a surface lot for Barnett Bank's HQ one block to the north.
In 1986, Barnett was planning to build a new HQ on the riverfront that would involve tearing down what was then the civic auditorium. The city, possibly in conjunction with the Rouse Co. as it was constructing the Landing, planned to replace the auditorium with a performing arts center and an art museum somewhere else nearby along the riverfront. The intent was that Barnett would trade its surface lot to the city for the auditorium lot in a tax-deferred like-kind exchange. There was rampant criticism of Barnett for 1) building directly on the riverfront and 2) the like-kind exchange, which is perfectly legitimate but was publicly described as a "land grab." Thus, Barnett built the Barnett Center on the former Heard site and eventually the civic auditorium was converted to the T-U center.
So in this case at least the destroyed building was replaced with another building, but that wasn't the original intent.
Thanks very much for this article and for the photo of the free-standing facade remnant. I knew that the facade remnant stood for a number of years but never actually saw it - just saw the columns outside the T-U center.
coredumped
November 07, 2011, 09:25:16 PMYou guys should write a book, even if it's just these articles printed out (each sub-forum a chapter). I'm on this site all the time and I still learn something frequently.
Tacachale
November 07, 2011, 09:37:18 PMWhat a very fascinating story. Thank you muchly, Lake.
duvaldude08
November 08, 2011, 12:42:02 AMAhh another history lesson. Thanks Wacca
Tacachale
November 08, 2011, 10:23:17 AMfieldafm
November 08, 2011, 10:32:35 AMBarnett also considered building their new HQ on top of the Omni as well.
Wacca Pilatka
November 08, 2011, 10:46:17 AMJust as part of the Enterprise Center project, or literally above the Omni in the same structure?
fieldafm
November 08, 2011, 02:28:41 PMIt's my recollection that it would have been built on top of the Omni... I believe the engineering was cost prohibitive due to how much structural support was required to be driven into the bedrock/river and the plans were abandoned.
Can't remember if it's the BofA Building or the current Wells Fargo building, but under one of those structures... the support beams actually were placed in such a way to surround a locomotive engine found buried in the muck that could not be dug up.
While on the subject, the construction of the present-day Acosta Bridge unearthed ships that had sunk in the river bottom many years prior.
It's amazing what all is actually buried underneath the northern core of downtown today.
thelakelander
November 08, 2011, 02:52:12 PMThe engine was/is under the Wells Fargo Center.
BackinJax05
April 14, 2012, 12:14:49 AMThe Heard Building was functional. Not pretty, not ugly, but very functional. Tearing it down was yet another waste of a useful historic landmark.
Today on that site sits "Helmut's Pencil" (the BofA bldg)
Sorry, but in my opinion Helmut Jahn's "masterpiece" looks like a 42 floor pencil.