The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission voted Oct. 25 to recommend to the National Park Service that Pratt Funeral Home be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 108-year-old building is at 525 W. Beaver St. on the edge of LaVilla Downtown.
Owner Eric Alder plans to convert the former funeral home and casket factory into an Airbnb and restaurant.
The national designation would make the project eligible to apply for federal funding.
The building met three criteria for the recommendation.
It the early 1920s, it was Jacksonville’s most successful Black-owned and operated businesses. The building was custom-built to serve as a funeral home, mortuary and casket factory.
The property has significant commerce and ethnic heritage. Black businessman and funeral director Lawton Pratt, who was one of the wealthiest residents of Duval County, was involved in founding funeral homes around the state.
The building’s architecture also qualifies it for consideration. It was designed and built by noted architect Joseph H. Blodgett, also a prominent African American in Jacksonville.
Initially Adler wanted to call it The Raven, an homage to the poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe.
In September, he said he still planned to play off of the former existence as a funeral home but also spotlight its history in the LaVilla neighborhood.
He now plans to call it LaVilla Place.
The nearly 7,000-square-foot building will have 13 apartments and a small plate restaurant and wine bar.
The funeral home had been in continuous use until it closed in 2019.
Pratt was the second licensed Black funeral director in Florida and the founder of the Florida Negro Embalmers and Morticians Association. That organization’s first meeting was held at the Pratt Funeral Home.
At a meeting of the Downtown Development Review Board in September, Alder said he expected to spend $3 million to $4 million for the complete renovation of the building’s interior. There are no plans to make major changes to the exterior.
Jacksonville-based Avant Construction Group is the contractor and Jason Canning is the architect.