Like other cities in America, Jacksonville experienced a building boom in the late 1920s.
The year 1926 is considered the city's "year of the skyscraper" with seven Downtown projects of 10 or more stories under construction.
The Barnett National Bank Building was the tallest of the projects at 18 stories.
The bank was founded in 1877 as the Barnett Bank with $40,000 of working capital by William B. Barnett and his son, Bion.
Within four years, it was the largest bank in Florida. The name changed in 1888 to National Bank of Jacksonville and then in 1908 to Barnett National Bank.
Fifty years after it was established, a new headquarters was needed, so the bank spent $1.5 million to build the 18-story bank and office building at 112 W. Adams St.
Dedicated in 1926, it was the tallest building in North Florida until 1954, when the Prudential Insurance Co. built its Southeast headquarters, now the Aetna Building, on the Southbank.
The building was designed by Mowbray & Uffinger, a nationally known architectural firm that specialized in banks.
The contractor for the job was the James Stewart Co., which also built Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Directly across Adams Street from the bank building is the Greenleaf & Crosby Building.
Damon Greenleaf arrived in Jacksonville from New York two years after the Civil War ended.
He opened a jewelry store along Bay Street. In 1880, J.H. Crosby joined the company, which became known as the Greenleaf & Crosby Co.
According to "Webb's Historical, Industrial and Biographical Florida," in 1885 the store was "a perfect museum of ancient and modern art with a magnificent display of diamonds and costly articles of jewelry."
Also on display were Florida curiosities including flamingo feathers, shells and alligator heads, teeth and eggs.
After the Great Fire of 1901 destroyed the store, the partners moved two blocks down Bay Street. Twenty-five years later, the jewelers needed more space and decided to construct a six-story building at 208 N. Laura St.
Looking to the future, the partners had the structure designed so it later could be expanded to 12 stories.
Before the building permit was issued, Greenleaf and Crosby decided to build 12 stories on the south end of the building with a plan to eventually build to 12 stories on the north end of the structure as well.
The plan never came to pass and the north end of the building was not expanded beyond two stories.
The James Stewart Co. was in charge of construction of the design by architects Marsh & Saxelbye.
(904) 356-2466
Facebook.com: Jax Daily Record