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The Laura Street Trio is a group of three historic buildings located on and near
Laura Street Laura Street is a north–south street in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, named for the daughter of the city's founder, Isaiah D. Hart. Historically, the downtown portion of Laura Street has been considered the financial district of Jac ...
in
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...
Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
. The Trio consists of two perpendicularly arranged skyscrapers, the Florida Life Building and the Bisbee Building, plus a third structure, the Old Florida National Bank (or Marble Bank), which is framed by the other two in a unique pattern. The three buildings, constructed in the wake of the
Great Fire of 1901 The Great Fire of 1901 was a conflagration that occurred in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 3, 1901. It was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and the third largest urban fire in the U.S., next to the Great Chicago Fire, and the 1906 ...
, are architecturally significant, but are currently endangered.


Structures


Old Florida National Bank

The oldest of the three, the Old Florida National Bank, also known as the Marble Bank, sits on the corner of Forsyth and Laura Streets. It was originally built as the Mercantile Exchange Bank in 1902, just after the
Great Fire of 1901 The Great Fire of 1901 was a conflagration that occurred in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 3, 1901. It was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and the third largest urban fire in the U.S., next to the Great Chicago Fire, and the 1906 ...
had destroyed nearly all of
downtown Jacksonville Downtown Jacksonville is the historic core and central business district (CBD) of Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It comprises the earliest area of the city to be developed and is located in its geographic center along the narrowing point ...
. Architect Edward H. Glidden designed it in the
Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...
style. In 1905 it was bought by Florida Bank & Trust, predecessors to the modern Florida National Bank, who renovated and expanded it. It was renovated again in 1916 to include a large banking room with a skylight, plaster detailing, and a coffered ceiling. Another refurbishing in the 1950s added dropped ceilings that covered the skylight and detail work; these were removed in 1976 by the building's then owners, the Jacksonville National Bank, who undertook a substantial restoration to its original appearance. By the 1990s, however, the building had been sold, and its subsequent owners allowed it to deteriorate dramatically.


Bisbee Building

The second of the three buildings to be built, the Bisbee Building was constructed between 1908 and 1909, adjacent to the Marble Bank on Forsyth Street. It was designed by prominent Jacksonville architect
Henry J. Klutho Henry John Klutho (1873 – 1964) was an American architect known for his work in the "Prairie School" style. He helped in the reconstruction of Jacksonville, Florida after the Great Fire of 1901—the largest-ever urban fire in the Southeast— ...
in a Chicago School-influenced
Prairie Style Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...
. It was constructed amid a race against two other ten-story projects, 121 Atlantic Place and the Seminole Hotel, to build Jacksonville's first ever skyscraper. The Bisbee won the race, but 121 Atlantic Place was slightly taller, making it Florida's tallest building at the time. The Bisbee Building was the first
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
highrise anywhere in the Southern United States, and was originally designed to be only 26 feet wide, about half its present width, but demand for office space in the trendy new edifice led the owner to have Klutho add on. As with the other buildings, the Bisbee Building was eventually left empty and rapidly deteriorated.


Florida Life Building

The Florida Life Building was also designed by Klutho, between 1911 and 1912. It stands next to the Marble Bank's back wall, and is the only one of the Trio that actually faces Laura Street. It was constructed at the same time as Klutho's
St. James Building The St. James Building is a historic building in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida, currently housing Jacksonville City Hall. It was designed by architect Henry John Klutho and opened in 1912. One of many structures in downtown Jacksonville desi ...
(now Jacksonville City Hall). Standing 45 meters and 11 floors high, it was Jacksonville's – and Florida's – tallest building when it was built, though it was superseded less than a year later by the
Heard National Bank Building Heard may refer to: * Hearing, the ability to perceive sounds through an organ * Heard (surname) * The Heard, an American 1960s garage rock band * Heard Island and McDonald Islands, an Australian external territory * Heard County, Georgia, U.S. ...
. Still, Wayne Wood of the Jacksonville Historic Landmarks Commission writes that with its narrow and well-proportioned tower, the building "was and perhaps still is Jacksonville's purest statement of a 'skyscraper.'" Like the Bisbee Buildings, it is an example of Klutho's Chicago-influenced Prairie Style. On April 18, 2012, the
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to: Aia * Aia, a small town in the province of Gipuzkoa, Spain * Peñas de Aya, small mountain range in Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa * Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis * Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ...
's Florida Chapter placed the Florida Life Building on its list of ''Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places''. The building was constructed for the Florida Life Insurance Company, but the firm folded in 1915, and the structure changed hands a number of times over the years. In 1994, its then owners, Nations Bank, removed the original
capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
on the top floor, doing structural damage in the process. Like the other buildings, the Florida Life building fell into disrepair.


Restoration plans

In the 2000s the Laura Street Trio were recognized as some of Jacksonville's most significant – and endangered – historic buildings. In 2002, under Mayor John Delaney, the City of Jacksonville purchased all three buildings to transfer them to a developer who could restore them.
Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...
developer Cameron Kuhn purchased the Laura Street Trio, as well as the nearby Barnett National Bank Building, but went bankrupt in the 2008 housing market crash before restoring them. The project subsequently sat idle. In 2010 Jacksonville investment group Atkins Group, together with the
Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...
-based Capital City Partners, presented a new, $70 million plan to restore the Laura Street Trio and the Barnett National Bank Building, as well as construct a fifth building. In June 2011 Atkins Group requested $5 million in historic tax credits to move forward with Phase I of the project. The Trio was slated to being renovated into a Courtyard Marriot Hotel. However, this plan failed and the city is now foreclosing on the property.


Gallery

File:Bisbee1910s.jpg, Bisbee building in 1910s File:LauraStreetTriominusFLB.jpg, Florida National Bank and Bisbee Building in 1910. File:FloridaLifeJAX1911.jpg, Florida Life building under construction in 1911 File:LauraStreetTrio20s.jpg, Laura Street Trio around 1920. File:Jacksonville FL Marble Bank02.jpg, Florida National Bank in 2011 File:Jacksonville FL Bisbee Bldg01.jpg, Ruins of the Bisbee building in 2011


See also

*
Architecture of Jacksonville The architecture of Jacksonville is a combination of historic and modern styles reflecting the city's early position as a regional center of business. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, there are more buildings built b ...


Notes


References

*


External links


Bing aerial

List of Jacksonville's tallest buildings
{{Jacksonville attractions Henry John Klutho buildings Skyscraper office buildings in Jacksonville, Florida Landmarks in Florida Chicago school architecture in Florida Prairie School architecture in Florida Downtown Jacksonville Northbank, Jacksonville Architecture in Jacksonville, Florida Laura Street Hotels in Jacksonville