The Jessie Ball duPont Center is a nonprofit complex 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 building served as the main branch of the

Jacksonville Public Library The Jacksonville Public Library is the public library system of Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It primarily serves Jacksonville and Duval County merged areas, and is also used by the neighboring Baker, Nassau, Clay, and St. Johns coun ...

system from 1965 until 2005, when it was replaced by the current facility. The library was named for

W. Haydon Burns William Haydon Burns (March 17, 1912 – November 22, 1987) was an American politician who served as the 35th Governor of Florida from 1965 to 1967. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was List of mayors of Ja ...

, who served as

Mayor of Jacksonville The Mayor of Jacksonville is the chief executive for the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and the administrator of Duval County. Jacksonville currently utilizes the strong mayor form of government in which the mayor currently has significant pow ...

for fifteen years and also served two years as

Governor of Florida The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Government of Florida#Executive branch, executive branch of the government of Florida and is the comman ...

. The Haydon Burns Library replaced the Jacksonville Free Public Library (a Carnegie Library), which was built in 1905 and designed by

Henry John 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� ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. 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 building on its list of ''Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places''.

History

When built in 1965 at a cost of $3.7 million, it was considered state of the art. The , three-story building was designed by local architect

Taylor Hardwick Taylor Hardwick (July 15, 1925 – September 27, 2014) was an American architect, interior designer, filmmaker, and educator who designed hundreds of buildings throughout northeast Florida, predominantly in and near the city of Jacksonville. H ...

, who designed dozens of other buildings in Jacksonville starting in the mid-1950s including the

Skinner Dairy Skinners' Dairy was a family-run dairy that existed in and around Jacksonville, Florida from 1922 until 1995. Origin The family of Samuel Benjamin "Ben" Skinner operated a dairy farm on a portion of their vast land holdings in northeast Florida ...

chain and

Friendship Fountain Friendship Fountain is a large fountain in Jacksonville, Florida. It is in St. Johns River Park (also known as Friendship Fountain Park) at the west end of Downtown Jacksonville's Southbank Riverwalk attraction. The world's largest and tal ...

and Park. John Hall Jacobs, a nationally known library consultant, also contributed to the design process. Hardwick worked on the library building's design over a span of five years, and his comprehensive plan specified all interior furnishings, graphics and the use of innovative, free-standing book shelves. He chose cheerful colors and limited the use of natural light. The walls surrounding the central elevator tower are covered with colorful murals made of 10,000 glazed bricks. The ground floor has floor to ceiling windows to allow pedestrians to view library activity. The exterior walls facing Ocean and Adams streets have 88 "fins" extending from the second floor to the roof, like the 88 keys on a piano. The fins catch the wind and cast shadows to help keep the building cool. Building construction was performed by

The Auchter Company The Auchter Company was established in 1929Kerr, Jessie-Lynn"Wilbur H. 'Bill' Glass Jr.: Headed firm that crafted Jacksonville's skyline"Florida Times-Union, October 21, 2010 in Jacksonville, Florida, by George D. Auchter. The company was among F ...

of Jacksonville.

Closure

The building served Jacksonville well, but by the mid-1990s, it was simply inadequate for the number of patrons using it. Parking was very limited and the 30-year-old wiring could not support the technology requirements for a modern library. Almost 300,000 people used the Burns library each year, ten percent of the total users of the

system. In September 2000 Jacksonville voters approved the

Better Jacksonville Plan The Better Jacksonville Plan is a growth management plan implemented by the city of Jacksonville, Florida. It was the signature project of Mayor John Delaney. It was approved by Jacksonville voters on September 5, 2000. Lex Hester was a key adv ...

, including funding for a new downtown library. The Haydon Burns Library checked out its last book on September 3, 2005. It took several weeks to move the library's half-million-item collection to the new facility. On November 12, 2005 the new Main Library opened to the public.

For sale

The transfer of the building from the city to a private owner was a long and winding road. The city requested bids on the property from developers while the new Main Library was still under construction and selected The Atkins Group as the winner in July, 2005. Atkins wanted to tear down the library to build condominiums, but walked away from the deal after a financing dispute with the city. City officials then approached runner-up Peterbrooke Chocolatier, a local candy company that wanted to turn the building into a chocolate factory. That deal fell through because Peterbrooke's needs had changed and environmental clean-up would cost more than expected. The city briefly planned to keep the library for storage or repeat the bid process, but eventually negotiated a contract with the third choice bidder, Main Branch LLC, whose $3.25 million bid for a mixed-use project would retain most of the building's character. An agreement was reached and the city council approved the sale on November 15, 2006. The sale closed in April, 2007 and the building was renamed "122 Ocean". One component of Main Branch's plan was to build two additional floors for condominiums, but that was to be a later phase. The building would include a number of businesses, including ''City Market'', downtown's first urban grocery store. Negotiations were ongoing with prospective tenants, including

Folio Weekly ''Folio Weekly'' is an alternative weekly publication in Jacksonville, Florida. It covers topics such as politics, lifestyle, and entertainment. It is the largest and most influential alternative magazine in Northeast Florida and is distributed ...

, a wine bar, a jazz club, a bar, two coffee shops, a cereal bar, a residential Realtor, a pair of film companies, a design & furniture store and a four-screen movie theater, according to Tony Allegretti, a Main Branch partner and investor. Some developers suggested tearing down the 1960s landmark, but Main Branch saw historical and financial value in its redevelopment. Allegretti stated, "One of the real motivations in this real estate cycle is you couldn't build this building for $20 million". Before any redevelopment even began, the

late 2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

struck, ending all plans. The private investment group held onto the structure, and conditions finally started to improve in 2012. Main Branch's Bill Cesery led the negotiations with Latitude Global, a privately held restaurant and entertainment company, to purchase the building for their corporate headquarters. After Latitude's letter of intent expired, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund began discussing their idea for the building.

New usage

Following a 90-day due diligence period which included a building inspection and a feasibility study, the

Jessie Ball duPont Fund The Jessie Ball duPont Fund, "Florida's leading national foundation", is a charitable foundation that issues grants to organizations that received support from Jessie Ball duPont between 1960 and 1964. When she died on September 26, 1970, the b ...

(JBDF) completed the purchase on June 19, 2013 for $2.2 million, $1 million less than Main Branch LLC paid six years earlier. Sherry Magill, president of the JBDF stated that the building will become a "philanthropic and nonprofit center that will be home to a variety of organizations, including the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. Collectively, these tenant organizations will benefit from the synergy created when they co-locate". Similar non-profit facilities have been established in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

(Center for Nonprofit Management) and

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

(Community Service Building). The fund formed JBDF LLC to own and operate the facility, which will offer stable monthly lease amounts well below commercial rates, and savings through bulk purchasing at the center. At the time, the Fund's offices in the

Wells Fargo Center Wells Fargo Center may refer to: * Wells Fargo Center (Los Angeles), California * Wells Fargo Center (Sacramento), California * Wells Fargo Center (San Francisco), California * Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, California * Wells Fargo C ...

occupied , a small portion of the former library's three floors with of rentable space, not including a basement which can be used in case of a disaster. To reduce operating expenses and demonstrate the energy saving benefits of

green building Green building (also known as green construction, sustainable building, or eco-friendly building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's li ...

, the JBDF planned to include conservation features to achieve

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

certification. With a budget of $20 million, renovations were projected to require 18 months, so occupancy was not expected until late 2014 at the earliest. In May 2014, interior gutting and cleanup was nearing completion, with construction expected to last less than a year. The JBDF opened the Jessie Ball duPont Center in 2015.
. Jessie Ball duPont Center. Retrieved on August 27, 2021.

References

External links