Above image caption: August Sanford Brookins courtesy Marsha Dean Phelts (left) and Richard Lewis Brown courtesy Joel McEachin.
This summer, the second of RAP’s four Porchlight Series events celebrated the legacy and impact of Black architects and builders in Riverside and Avondale. In case you missed or want to revisit it, the audio is now available here on our blog (see below)! Held on Juneteenth at Happy Medium Books Café (2724 Park Street), the event
examined how the vision of our featured architects and builders shaped the architectural identity of our historic neighborhoods and how their contributions continue to influence our streets today. Our esteemed panelists led conversation exploring design, history, and cultural preservation, shining light on stories too often left in the shadows, and fielded thoughtful questions from the audience at the end of the evening.
In the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1901, architects and builders from around the country flocked to Jacksonville in the 1910s and ’20s to help rebuild the city. Naturally, Jacksonville experienced a real estate boom radiating from downtown into today’s historic neighborhoods, such as LaVilla, Sugar Hill, Springfield, San Marco, and, of course, Riverside and Avondale. Our community has long celebrated architects such as Roy Benjamin, Mellen Greeley, Henry Klutho, Sheftall & Mark, Saxelbye & Marsh, Addison Mizner, and Ted Pappas. Many other unsung players, however, whose hands built the homes, streets, and lifestyles we still enjoy, worked prolifically in the development field.
Left to right: Bricks from the rubble, Great Fire of 1901, courtesy Jacksonville Historical Center; Jacksonville Bricklayers Union, courtesy Library of Congress.
The 2004 book African American Architects edited by Dreck Spurlock Wilson explains, “The veil of anonymity [of Black architects], made denser by racism, resulted in a dearth of documentation about their role” and significant contributions to the architectural heritage of America. If it weren’t for the very few books like Wilson’s volume and some archival records, we would know little to nothing
John Henry Rosemond, courtesy Janie Madry.
about, for example, Sanford Augustus Brookins who worked in Riverside and other contemporaneous Black architects working in the urban core such as Richard Brown, James Hutchins, John Rosemond, William Cooke, John Lankford, or Joseph Blodgett. Notably, many other Black citizens worked as craftsmen, brick layers, cooks, maids, nannies, and butlers in the white neighborhoods, and the early subdivision of Silvertown was known as a Black neighborhood contiguously bordering the predominantly white Riverside along King Street.
Joseph Haygood Blodgett, c. 1920, courtesy The Florida-Times Union.
Left to right: 2103 Gilmore Street, built c. 1920 by Sanford A. Brookins; 2676 Gilmore Street, built 1887, Silvertown (Riverside), courtesy RAP.
Learn more now! Listen below:
Many thanks to our generous sponsors of the Porchlight Series:
