Urban Jacksonville

Content Design Group’s Urban Facelifts were cruel, reverse foreshadowing of what 118 Main Street would become. Instead of a nice infill project reclaiming a historic Jacksonville building, the city demolished it, frustrating many downtown supporters.

The Urban Facelift Project – #2

View Project

The Urban Facelift Project – #4

View Project

What Now?

Many will say there was no way to save the building. Content Design Group says:

Metro Jacksonville also posted a piece on this today which includes a little history on the building:

In 1928 Lerner’s clothing shops took over the building, and it is presumed that shortly thereafter the splashy Art Deco facade was added to the first story. The burst of metallic bas-relief decoration above the entrance and above the display windows is one of the city’s most exuberant remaining specimens of Art Deco ornamentation. The stylish lettering denoting “LERNER SHOPS” also displays the Art Deco flair. A remnant of the original cast-iron storefront can be seen at the extreme left of the facade.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 6:32 am and is filed under Downtown Jacksonville, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

GrimlyFiendish

"historiccommissionresponds", your PhD work in sarcasm was money down the drain. Dollars to doughnuts there was a single, overzealous city engineer who (without proper knowledge of historic preservation techniques) labeled the building a public safety hazard and issued an emergency teardown notice that the HPC was powerless against.
historiccommissionresponds

well first let me say blah blah blah, we here at the historic commission take these buildings murmer murmer murmer, yakety yak and don't talk back son let me tell you a story about a brick, brickety brack don't step on a crack... now this crack this is what ya'll need to worry about ya heer? Let me end by saying the Historic Commission is committed to.........um.....yeah...lemme refer to my TPS report here... oh yeah, committed to.....I mean criticizing our commission is one thing, but by doing so you criticize this great ciy and this city is a fine representative of this republic of ours, so say what you will about us, we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America! Now lets go tear down another dilapidated building.
thelakelander

You're right DTP, that was the last historic storefront directly facing Main in Downtown. However, don't worry, I'm sure we have enough pictures for the next photobook showing what the city used to look like. I wonder what did the historic commission or historical society have to say about this?
JasonCDG

That Room of Board takes up some existing parts of the building and some new construction. There is also more retail and office space throughout the building.

We've got some images of how they were able to save the White Provision facade and strengthen it. We're going to get something together and publish a few thoughts tomorrow.
Downtownparks

Un-Freaking believable. Nice work Farah Bros.

I think this may have been the last actual historic store front facing Main between the bridge and the Shell Station.
Joey Marchy

ATL Room and Board resource links via @mbarilla
Official Site for ATL location
Room & Board to Open New Store in Atlanta May 1st
ATL Westside Provisions District

There is also some great discussion going on at Metro Jacksonville on this topic.
Brendon

I can't believe this happened.
Audrey

Maybe I'm just too sentimental and nostalgic for my own good, but I always feel a little of my own mortality when something like this happens.
boyd bettis

I walked by there Saturday morning...my brother in law and I were walking around downtown and stopped for a minute wondering what was going on with this building. Now I know. Thanks.

118 Main Street: Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

The Urban Facelift Project – #2

The Urban Facelift Project – #4

What Now?

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