* by Patti Connor
Staff Writer
Back in the days when it was customary for wealthy Jacksonville families to pack their belongings and move to Atlantic Beach for the summer, the area boasted a unique style that set it apart from other beach communities. With cedar-shake siding and roomy, sprawling porches, the two-story summer cottages of old Atlantic Beach would have appeared equally at home along the rocky shores of New England.
Although it has managed to retain much of the distinctive appearance which has long made it special, there’s no question that the oceanfront of Atlantic Beach today is significantly different. But are those changes good, or bad?
Architect Michael Dunlap thinks that where there has been some very good work done, there also “has been [some] that erodes the character of the community.
“Much of the new Atlantic Beach architecture is the product of [builders from] guard-gate communities being let loose mistakenly. If you build something that looks like an oil refinery next to a 1930s style shingle cottage, it’s an obvious mismatch,” said Dunlap, who admits to having compiled a photo “rant file” that he sent to Atlantic Beach Mayor John Meserve “to find out why these [kinds of things] are still happening.”
If some of the newer oceanfront construction does in fact miss the mark, much of the blame rests, according to Dunlap, on “misapplied” zoning laws.
“In Neptune Beach especially, you’ll notice that many of the projects tend to be car dominated. It’s not unusual for a 50-foot lot to have a 35-foot garage door. When you have two or three garage doors, and then you have a Winnebago garage door next to them, what you’re going to see is a big wall of doors.”
He prefers the approach of William Morgan, a Harvard-educated architect and Fulbright scholar whose distinctive architecture proliferates throughout the community. A long-time resident of the area, Morgan constructed his own house on the oceanfront in 1972.
“He has, I think, done some of the best work,” said Dunlap. “Why? Because he understands character and he understands scale. You won’t see him building a garage. Instead, he builds a carport, which is visually much less intrusive.”
Rather than starting from scratch and trying to squeeze a mammoth dwelling onto a lot that’s something less than spacious, Dunlap advocates updating the ones that already exist.
“There’s no reason why a house with a 1930s exterior shouldn’t have an interior that reflects current technology,” he said, adding that can be easily achieved through the addition of such contemporary features as “interesting” lighting, fiber optics and up-to-date heating and cooling.
Apparently, a number of residents are doing just that.
Jan Shields, a realtor with Watson in Atlantic Beach, said, “I’ve heard a lot of talk about how many people are adding on. Primarily, they seem to be building bigger garage apartments. I have heard some residents express the concern that they’ll end up blocking their view of the ocean.”
If there’s a preponderance of expansions, much of that is no doubt dictated by the increasingly prohibitive cost of land on or near the water.
“Especially if you’re within five or six blocks of the ocean,” said Meserve. “Prices are escalating so much that it makes more sense economically to tear down the existing structure and maximize the footprint of what is already there.”
Although there’s little question Atlantic Beach oceanfront property is pricey, Jack McCarthy, a broker with an office in Ponte Vedra Beach who sells houses throughout the beaches, thinks it’s still more affordable than what one will find in some other areas, such as Ponte Vedra Beach.
“In Ponte Vedra, you’re paying an added premium to be close to the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club. In Atlantic Beach, you don’t have that. You can’t compare because they’re not really comparable.”
Much of the construction in old Atlantic Beach reflected an interior spaciousness that for a number of years was missing from residential development, according to McCarthy.
“Although the closets typically were small, a lot of the older homes, believe it or not, had very high ceilings and open floor plans, which for a while we got away from.”
His family first began vacationing in the area back in the 1920s.
“I wish there was a way to retain the look of the older homes. That cedar shake siding was wonderful. But people just aren’t building with that anymore. I suppose it doesn’t go with the look of the contemporary houses.”
If anything, he bemoans the fact that a greater effort has not been put into retaining “the great charm and character from that time.”
“I guess we don’t necessarily take the necessary time to preserve things,” he said. “But then again, money rules.”
Meserve is somewhat more upbeat. He thinks there’s sufficient architecture reflective of old Atlantic Beach still remaining in the core of town, that the area should never be in danger of losing its original character totally.
“If you walk or bike along Ocean Boulevard, you are basically going to see a little bit of everything — from the 1,000 square-foot cinder block beach houses to the 7,000 square-foot ‘sandcastles.’ All in all, I think, they fit together nicely,” he said.
Morgan has always thought the biggest share of Atlantic Beach’s appeal lies in its lack of pretentiousness. He believes that its architecture and the materials that are a part of that architecture should be reflective of that same authenticity.
“I’m a strong believer in appreciating materials for what they are, not plastic, and not simulated wood,” said Morgan, who admires the simplicity and directness of raw materials such as stone and natural wood and has incorporated those materials into his own work.
It’s hardly surprising that he should have his own definite set of opinions regarding the direction residential construction in the 21st century is headed.
“It has almost turned into some kind of merchandising mania. Buying a house has gotten to be like buying a refrigerator or any other commodity — a consumer item rather than a way of life,” said Morgan.
Nor should a residence be little more than the concrete embodiment of its builder’s overblown ego.
Said Morgan, “A house shouldn’t look like a train station any more than it should pretend to be an embassy. As someone — I believe it was Sir Winston Churchill —once said: ‘We shape our buildings, and then, our buildings shape us.’ “