Tag Archives: Florida Gothic

New Story: Hogan’s Creek Tower

Posted on May 23, 2021 | Leave a comment

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Who were they, these women in these earliest photographs? Who called this tower their “poor man’s penthouse”? Opened in 1976, Hogan’s Creek Tower, designed by architect Ted Pappas, is one of Jacksonville’s best examples of Brutalism. Like any community, it has its stories. Like the resident who wandered away and spent his 100th Christmas meandering for 17 hours across the city.

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Tagged Blodgett Villas, Brewster Hospital, Brutalism, Brutalism Jacksonville, Carl Andree, Confederate Park, Duval Armory, Florida Gothic, Frances Hines, Frank Henry Thomas, Hogan's Creek Tower, Hogans Creek, Jacksonville Armory, Jacksonville Brutalism, Jacksonville Housing Authority, Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Jacksonville Trisect, jaxpsychogeo, Jimmy Hodges, Le Corbusier, Mary L. Singleton Center, Mathews Bridge, Maxwell House, Metropolitan Park, Sugar Hill, Ted Pappas, Tim Gilmore, Tower Tenants’ Association, World of Nations

The Strange Florida Gothic Epic of Kelnepa

Posted on May 2, 2021 | Leave a comment

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The original house exists beneath the house poured on top. Raymond Saleeba remembers his grandmother’s Lebanese cooking and playing with his siblings here as the happiest times in his life. The strangeness came later, with the house redubbed “Tuscan River Estate.” The sports car bought with worthless stock. Multi-million dollar con jobs. Brides who had to find other venues for their weddings.

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Tagged Aaron Riley, Anthony Saleeba, Antonia Brown, Art and Ornamental Stone Company, Bernard Close, Betty Jean Louis, Beulah Saleeba, Brent Brown, Classic Homes Today, CLS Asset Management, Dan Scanlan, Deluxe Cleaners, Ella Canipa Keller, Epping Forest, Epping Forest Yacht Club, Florida Gothic, Florida Gothic Tim Gilmore, Independent Life Insurance Company, jax psycho geo, Jenna Bourne, Kelnepa, Kelnepa House, Lattitude 360, Linda Stanley, Matt Stroud, Miami Marble, Michael Johnigean, Mitchell McDaniel, Old House Journal, Raymond Saleeba, Renee Saleeba Crabtree, Rex Gryphon LLC, Saleeba House, T.M. Keller Lumber Company, Thomas Keller, Thomas Saleeba, Tim Gilmore, Tom Saleeba, Tuscan River Estate, Tuscan River Estate LLC, Victor Zambetti

New Story: Wandering the Ruins of the Thunderbird Motor Hotel

Posted on July 4, 2020 | Leave a comment

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The Thunderbird Motor Hotel lies in ruins on 19 acres. We wander through it. It was “one of the brightest jewels in the Florida Crown,” created to “give Jacksonville a Las Vegas, New York, big-city type of night club atmosphere.” It featured multiple lounges like The Zodiac Room and The Wonderfall, dinner theatre and convention space. The stars came. For a while. Few realized its full history of financial troubles. Now a hawk flies over the abandoned swimming pool. Click below for the story.

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Tagged Al Stein, Albert Stein, Ann Sothern, Arlington Jacksonville, Ben Stein, Bethel Baptist Church, Bethelite, Bold New City of the South, Bonnie Morrison, Burger King Jacksonville, Carmen Ann Roden, Danae Clift, David Stein, Fireman's Ball, Fisher & Malone, Florida Gothic, Frances Langford, Gator Bowl, Gerry Roden, Hans Tanzler, Howard Keel, Jackie Gleason Show, Jacksonville Coliseum, Jacksonville Florida, Jacksonville Gothic, Jacksonville University, Jason Wood, jax psycho geo, Jay Leno, Jill Starr, Joann Starr, John C. Christian, Jud Ammean Orchestra, KBJ Architects, Kettle Pub, King’s Inn Lounge, Man of La Mancha, Martin Denny, Mary Lynn Brown, Mayor Hans Tanzler said, Michael Ammiano, Peter Cummings, Philip Browning, Red Carpet Inns, Regency Square, Regency Square Mall, Ricky Takacs, Rolling Stones Jacksonville, Sammy Spear Orchestra, South Pacific Orientalism, Terrace Room, The Diamonds, Thunder Resort Hotel, Thunderbird Motor Hotel, Thunderreal, Tiki Bar, Tim Gilmore, Tim Gilmore writer, Tiny Tim, white flight, William Groff, William K. Jackson, Wonderfall, Wonderfall Bar, Wonderfall Lounge, Yvonne Moray, Zero Mostel, Zodiac Room

Harry Crews’s Childhood Nightmare Northside

Posted on May 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

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The novelist Harry Crews chronicled how Jacksonville imported desperation from half the state of Georgia. It offered hope, but required human sacrifice. First coming to Jax when his stepfather-uncle aimed a rifle at his mother’s head, Harry lived in half a dozen houses across the Northside, all of which his family called “the Springfield Section.” When Harper Lee read Crews’s second novel, she said William Faulkner had come back to life.

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Tagged " E.E. Cummings, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, Abraham Joseph, Andrew Jackson High School, Bacon County Georgia, Biography of Harry Crews, Blood Bone and Marrow, Drew Mansion, Erskine Caldwell, Fairfield, Florida Gothic, Franklin Street Baptist Church, Grit Lit, Harper Lee, Harry Crews, Historic Springfield Jacksonville, Hoyett Crews, Jacksonville Northside, jax psycho geo, Jeeter Lester, Junior Lister, King Edward Cigars, Klutho Apartments, Klutho House, Leland Lister, Myrtice Crews, Naked in Garden Hills, New Springfield, North Jacksonville, Okefenokee Swamp, Paschal Crews, Phoenix, Phoenix Avenue, Public School no. 8, Ray Crews, Scar Lover, Southern Gothic, Springfield, Swisher and Son, Ted Geltner, Tim Gilmore, Tobacco Road, University of Florida, white flight, William Faulkner

The Independent Life Building / Wells Fargo Center

Posted on May 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

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From lightning strikes to the locomotive buried in its foundation, from loyalty to President Nixon to overtures to the National Football League, from the architectural sketches of Wah Yo Eng to the immigrant family of Bulgarians, Haitians and Jamaicans, the Independent Life Building (now the Wells Fargo Center) has reflected Jacksonville back to itself since 1974.

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Tagged Accustaff, Accustaff Building, Bay Street, Beth Dunlop, Bill Ectric, Bill Ectric King, Bill Foley, Bill Kinh, Bob Irsay, Bud Adams, C.J. Holmes, Colt Fever, Consolidation, David Eisenhower, Doug Eng, Drew Company, Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad, Florida Gothic, Great Fire of 1901, H. and W.B. Drew, Henry Flagler, Independent Life Building, Independent Life Insurance Company, J.H.W. Hawkins, J.M.W. Hawkins, Jacksonville Bulls, Jacksonville Businessmen’s Club, Jacksonville Colts, Jacksonville Oilers, Jacob Bryant III, jaxpsychogeo, JMW Hawkins, John C. Christian, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, KBJ, KBJ Architects, Kemp Bunch Jackson, Lyubomira Lazarova, Mayport, Mayport Naval Station, Mayport Navy Base, McConihe Building, Modis, Modis Building, Richard Nixon, River Club, Southern Gothic, Tim Gilmore, United States Football League, USFL, Veliko Tarnovo, Way Yo Eng, Wayne Wood, Wells Fargo Center

McCormick Apartments and Mythos at Jax Beach

Posted on April 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

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“There are enough concrete blocks in the McCormick Apartments to build a solid wall eight feet high from Jacksonville Beach to Downtown Jacksonville.” So bragged J.T. McCormick at the 1948 Open House, five years before he was elected mayor of Jacksonville Beach. The mythos contains stories of horsewhippings and murders and the family who built up the beach.

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Tagged B.B. McCormick, B.B. McCormick and Sons, B.B. McCormick Bridge, Beaches Area Historical Society, Ben McCormick, Benjamin Bachelor McCormick, Beverly Cochran, Beverly Jarrell, Beverly June Cochran, Carolyn Meeks, Clarence McCormick, Dale Carson, David Hepher, Donald Coleman, Ed McCormick, Edward McCormick, Emmett Spencer, Erin Richman, Ethel Jarrell, Florida Gothic, Folio Weekly, Gerry Cochran, Gus Hardee, horsewhipping, J.C. Patrick, J.T. McCormmick, Jacksonville Beaches, James Cochran, James Wingate, jax psycho geo, jaxpsychogeo, Jean McCormick, Manuel Chao, McCormick Apartments, McCormick Apartments Jacksonville Beach, McCormick Bridge, McCormicks Jacksonville Beach, McCormicks Jacksonville Beaches, Mike Altee, Pat Patrick, Reid McCormick, Rex Sweat, Richard Keathly, Russell Seymour, Susan Clark Armstrong, Tim Gilmore, Tim Gilmore writer, Wilbur Harkness, World's Finest Beach

New Story: Sloan / McQueen House

Posted on August 19, 2019 | Leave a comment

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William has lived his whole life here on Spearing Street on the Eastside. Mable lived here almost half a century. Then tragedy struck. The letters on the pantry door spell, “Mable’s kitchen.” The Reverend McQueen took in boarders, but when a choir member couldn’t make rent, the pastor still paid the community’s mortgage.

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Tagged Aiden Michael McClendon, Alan Weisman, Albert Street, Andrew McQueen, C.B. Sloan, Charles Sloan, East Jacksonville, Eastside Jacksonville, Fairfield Jacksonville, Fairfield Stadium, First Baptist Church of Oakland, Florida Avenue, Florida Gothic, Florida Ostrich Farm, Gator Bowl, Henry Hayes, Jacksonville Motor Car Company, jaxpsychogeo, John Henry Rosemond, John Paige, John Rosemond, Kquame Richardson, Lenny Curry, Lillian Sloan, Mable Paige, Mable Paige Lenny Curry, Mayor Lenny Curry, Naked City, Oakland Jacksonville, Odessa, Pippin, Reverend Andrew McQueen, Sloan McQueen House, Southern Gothic Jacksonville, Southern Gothic Tim Gilmore, Spearing Street, The World Without Us, Tim Gilmore

Tag Archives: Florida Gothic

New Story: Hogan’s Creek Tower

The Strange Florida Gothic Epic of Kelnepa

New Story: Wandering the Ruins of the Thunderbird Motor Hotel

Harry Crews’s Childhood Nightmare Northside

The Independent Life Building / Wells Fargo Center

McCormick Apartments and Mythos at Jax Beach

New Story: Sloan / McQueen House

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