St. James Building
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St. James Building
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| Location | 117 West Duval Street Jacksonville, Florida, USA |
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| Coordinates | 30°19′48″N 81°39′34″W / 30.33000°N 81.65944°WCoordinates: 30°19′48″N 81°39′34″W / 30.33000°N 81.65944°W |
| Architect | Henry John Klutho |
| Architectural style |
Chicago School Prairie School |
| NRHP Reference # | 76000594 |
| Added to NRHP | May 3, 1976 |
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 designed by Klutho after the Great Fire of 1901, it is considered his masterpiece.
The building is located at 117 West Duval Street, on the former site of the St. James Hotel. It was designed as a mixed-use building containing the Cohen Bros. Department Store (later May Cohens). The department store closed in 1987, leaving the building empty. In 1993 it was purchased by the City of Jacksonville under the River City Renaissance plan, with the intention of remodeling it as the new City Hall. It reopened in 1997. On April 18, 2012, the American Institute of Architects's Florida Chapter placed the building on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.
St. James Hotel
The original St. James Building was a hotel constructed and owned by investors from Connecticut following the American Civil War. In addition to lodging for 500 guests, it boasted a passenger elevator and a restaurant with excellent cuisine. The facility included a laundry, barbershop, wine room, telegraph office and reading rooms. Touring orchestras performed concerts for the guests, who included society people, celebrities and the rich. At the peak of Jacksonville’s popularity, 65,000 people spent the winter in north Florida. The hotel was so prominent that the public square across the street, known as "City Park", was changed to "St. James Park".
Jacksonville's Great Fire of 1901 destroyed most of the city, including the original St. James. The owner of the St. James property, J. R. Campbell, wanted to rebuild, but did not have the resources. The Windsor Hotel, located adjacent to the St. James, quickly rebuilt and was able to purchase the St. James land from the cash-strapped Campbell to prevent a competing hotel from being built downtown. Jacob and Morris Cohen purchased the St. James property by from the Windsor after agreeing not to build a hotel.
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