J Magazine Winter 2019

2019
T
he St. James Building
– current home
of Jacksonville’s City
Hall – was designed
and built by famed
architect Henry J.
Klutho. Considered
to be Klutho’s Prairie School masterpiece,
the building at 117 West Duval Street
featured a spectacular 75-foot octagonal
glass dome and large abstract terra-cotta
ornaments.
When the building was dedicated in
October of 1912, it was the largest structure
in Jacksonville, occupying an entire
city block.
For more than four decades, the St.
James was home to the upscale Cohen
Bros. Department Store. In 1958, the store
was bought by the May Company and
renamed May Cohens before it eventually
closed in 1987.
At the urging of Mayor Ed Austin, the
City of Jacksonville purchased the building
in 1993 and restored it at a cost of $24
million before reopening it in December
1997 as the new City Hall. The project,
funded by the River City Renaissance
plan, moved Jacksonville’s consolidated
government to the heart of the urban
core.
The site was originally home to the
St. James Hotel – built shortly after the
Civil War – with accommodations for 500
guests as well as a passenger elevator, barbershop,
wine room and telegraph office.
The Great Fire of 1901 burned the hotel to
the ground.
J MAGAZINE
PHOTO BY NATE WATSON
WINTER 2019 | J MAGAZINE 17