Tag Archives: Renaissance Revival

The morning of May 4, 1901, a young architect named opened his New York Times to discover that a great fire had burned downtown Jacksonville nearly to the ground. In June, Klutho left his two-year-old New York City architecture practice to board a steamer bound for Jacksonville. He arrived to find the debris and rubble already nearly cleared, and local imaginations captivated by the blank canvas presented to builders and developers. Newly elected mayor declared a cease-fire for partisan politics, insisting that “the one all-absorbing idea now is the restoration of Jacksonville.” The city council quickly authorized the fire marshal …