Print ArticleImmediately following the Great Fire of 1901, the skyscraper made its way to Jacksonville. Over the decades to follow, the city's tallest building has changed nine times. Here's a look at those buildings.
7. Riverplace Tower 
Year completed: 1967
Height: 417 feet /28 Stories
Gulf Life Insurance moved to downtown Jacksonville in 1916. During its formative years in town, the company's offices were located on West Adams Street, until they bought up First Baptist Church’s Sunday School during the Great Depression.
In 1967, the Gulf Life Tower was completed on the Southbank to serve as the company's new corporate headquarters. It was the tallest precast, post-tensioned concrete structure in the world until 2002, when it was surpassed by the 425-ft.-tall Paramount Apartment Tower in San Francisco. The Gulf Life Tower was Florida's tallest until Miami's One Biscayne Tower was completed in 1972. It remained was Jacksonville's tallest until being passed by, what is now the Wells Fargo Center, in 1974.
Gulf Life Company was merged into Houston-based American General Life in 1991. In 1993, the tower was acquired by Gate Petroleum and renamed Riverplace Tower. Gate bought the building when it was at a mere 40% occupancy. They managed to crank it up to 95% in just two years.
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