Bob Broward owns Robert C. Broward, Architects. He has been designing structures in Jacksonville since 1956.
WORK ETHIC
“I don’t have to do what others want me to do. I never sell myself. People know what I can do. They can either want what I do or not. I feel architecture is one of the great arts and must remain so — it is not a business. It’s treated by too many as just a way to make money.”
WHERE DID HE GET HIS START?
Before opening his office here, Broward designed a number of buildings in Georgia and some Jacksonville homes. He studied under a fellowship with famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
CLIENT BASE
More of a generalist, Broward has designed all types of structures, including churches, office buildings and private residences. The American Broadcasting Company had him construct movie theaters, but he is most proud of his work creating the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville.
HE WROTE THE BOOK ON IT
His firm is currently restoring the Klutho apartments in Springfield, which were built in 1913 and ravaged by fire a decade ago. The project should be complete by next summer. Broward is author of “The Architecture of Henry John Klutho: The Prairie School.” “They called them prairie schools because they were low and level with no overhang and were out on the prairie.”
EDUCATION
Georgia Institute of Technology.
WHY GO INTO ARCHITECTURE?
“I never had any choice. I always wanted to be an architect. From an early age I could draw really well. At 10 or 11 I would invent houses and buildings, draw them and build models.”
WHAT’S MOST ENJOYABLE ABOUT IT?
“To see how people’s lives are more livable because of better facilities. The most rewarding thing is doing the best I can to help people live better lives. Architecture has the chance to open people’s eyes and embrace beauty.”
WHAT’S MOST DIFFICULT
ABOUT YOUR WORK?
“Trying to get something beautiful built with all the roadblocks in the way. It’s overkill. Most people in public jobs are not talented enough to have their own profession. The most challenging thing is to get a good idea past the bureaucrats. If these people were in the building industry years ago, we wouldn’t have many of the fine buildings that we do now.”
HIS THOUGHTS ON THE ARTS
“I see the City as a living organism. It’s either fed the proper food such as culture, art and business or bad food such as ugliness, bad business and a lack of comprehension about art. You will never find a great city without great art. For the city to mature, we need individuals who are wealthy, talented or powerful enough to get ideas across. This city is growing up; it has a chance to be a great place to live.”
HOMETOWN
Jacksonville.
REMINISCING
“I’ve watched this city grow from 60-70,000 to over 1 million. I remember when the southernmost stop light in town was at Atlantic and Hendricks and San Marco was the south end of the city. The thing about Jacksonville is it has had so many opportunities to be better and messed up every one. Sometimes it was bad politics, sometimes it was fate. Before World War I, Jacksonville was just rebuilding itself after the fire. Too often the people in public office didn’t have enough ambition to make it happen. They didn’t even have a planning commission until the 1950s. All the artists left. If the City had some sort of incentive for the film industry, they may have kept them.”
TODAY’S SPRAWLING METROPOLIS
“Somebody has got to get a handle on densities, where growth should occur. I think Jacksonville will keep growing in spite of itself, whether it’s planned or not.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
ON BUDGET CUTS
“We’re not doing the right thing locally when we cut art out of the schools. They’re damaging the education of our young people. Art is the most important education in a child’s life. We need to tear down the football stadiums first. We don’t need quasi-professional football teams in high school preparing them to go to the NFL. With every state in the Union you are going to find real problems in the educational system but I hope the politicians do not use the code we’re living under now after Sept. 11 as an excuse to pull money from the arts for safety’s sake. The greatest safety is in an educated, voting citizenry.”
RESIDENCE
St. Nicholas is home to Broward and his wife Myrtice Craig, a local realtor. They have two grown daughters, Elizabeth Broward and Kris Barnes, a member of the Duval County School Board.
WHAT’S A KEBYAR?
Broward is a member of the Friends of Kebyar, a worldwide association of organic (earth-friendly) architects. Kebyar translates to the development of an idea. He also participates in the Society of Architectural Historians and the American Institute of Architects. “I was hesitant to join [AIA]. They’ve done a lot for architects but not a whole lot for architecture.” Broward refuses to hold any civic affiliations. “I’ve never joined a club because I do not believe in hawking myself through a business organization to get work or to get my name known, but I do have friends in all of them.”
HOBBIES
Fishing, Thai food or reading history books are his favorite distractions. “Reading is becoming a lost art. We [society] are becoming so visual that if we can’t see it in a movie, it doesn’t exist. I like to use my imagination.”
IF YOU HAD TO WATCH A MOVIE,
WHAT WOULD IT BE?
“There’s a new full length movie called ‘Surfacing.’ It’s a personal drama filmed by Douglas Anderson graduates who went on to Hollywood.”
WHO’S YOUR HERO?
“My mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright. He endured more travail and created more beauty than any American that ever lived. He was a great innovator and made me think about life in a totally different way.”
—by Monica Chamness