Exploring Downtown's Cathedral District

[Metro Jacksonville]

Exploring Downtown's Cathedral District



The Cathedral District may be the urban core's most overlooked and forgotten pedestrian friendly neighborhood.  Due to several years of neglect and the destruction of building fabric for surface parking lots, outside of parking for Jaguars games, there's not much reason to walk it on foot. Despite this, what remains are gridded streets, a centralized location, significant unique architecture and available land to convert this area into one of Jacksonville's premier urban addresses.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/435

[tufsu1]

Since I am often critical of some of the concepts discussed here, let me be the first to say that this is a great photo essay of a neighborhood that needs some attention.

Thanks for showing off The Parks at the Cathedral and my home  as well!

[Jeremiah]

this is a great photo essay.  i love it when you guys put these together.  it's like taking a tour of jacksonville without leaving the office.  but, the postcard that you have shown above is a shot of the old Porter Mansion on it's original site at Church and Julia Streets, looking west, which is not, according to the map highlighted above, a part of the cathedral district.  i could be wrong, but just wanted to throw that out there for clarification.

[nativeson]

I love the time you guys take to research and inform your readers on current city issues.. But the question I ask is does all this make a difference when in comes down to brass tax? From the transportation to the preservation to the renovation to conectivity to foot traffic to urbanism. Are the people incharge of these things payiny any attention to your/our concerns about our city. And if so please dedicate a day on your site to letting your supporters know about the changes happening in the different communities.

[Johnny]

That is one of my favorite areas in town. Living on the east side of Springfield, I tend to go through that area often. It has amazing architecture, the area is laid out perfectly and connects the sporting district to DT, what more could you ask for?

[RG]

Awesome tour.  I really enjoy these photo tours from my desk.   I have often thought about buying and rehabbing rental property in that area but have not for fear that the market was not there.  This is clearly a great area in terms of its potential to link a resurgent  downtown with a revitalized Springfield.  Also, we are fortunate to still have a lot of the original building stock left.  I think midrise infill housing here would be perfect.  I hope to participate in it also.  Thanks again.

P.S.  How about posting links to new stories in the forums too?

[I-10east]

Just when you thought you knew DT Jax like the back of your hand, then buildings like the three story Nawlins style building come in to play. Anyone that think Jax doesn't have great architechure, is just plain blind. Notice all of the posted blgs outside the residential, are extremely contrasting in styles. Immaculate Conception Catholic Church is a joy to look at; It's steeple once was the tallest point in Jax. Again, great job on the tour.

[Barbara Bostwick Edwards]

Back in the 50's and 60's we did a lot of walking in the downtown area.  I especially remember walking to the movies at Fla. Theater.

[SeaEmBee]

"I love the time you guys take to research and inform your readers on current city issues.. But the question I ask is does all this make a difference when in comes down to brass tax?"

To Nativeson: Yes this site makes a tremendous difference, because it is a repository for information, ideas, and best practices. It is our responsibility as citizens to use this site to inform our leaders. If we see information at metrojax that a public official should use to make an informed decision, then send it to them (over and over again). The more emails, phone calls, letters sent - the more pressure (influence) we the citizens extert. We should never assume our leaders are smarter or more informed than we are. Let me say that again...We should never assume our leaders are smarter or more informed than we are. This entire site is an advocates tool box; it's up to us to use it. We won't win them all, but...