4. Home Telephone Building

29 East Adams Street

H.J. Klutho’s Home Telephone Building before its 1960s renovation. (The Prairie School Traveler)

The Burrito Gallery’s neighbor was the long-time offices of the Jacksonville Gas Corporation. It was built in 1915 for the Home Telephone Company and was one of H.J. Klutho’s last Prairie School buildings in downtown Jacksonville. In 1965, the facade was radically altered by a Hardwick & Lee Architects-designed renovation for the Florida Gas Company.

29 East Adams Street today

3. Akers-Cody Building

170 Hogan Street

An architectural elevation of the once Prairie School-influenced Hogan Street facade. (City of Jacksonville Historic Preservation Office)

Orginally called the Akers-Cody Building, this structure was designed by E.R. Merry Architect and constructed by Griffin Construction Company in 1921. The original facade appeared to be Prairie School. Developed by Akers & Cody of Atlanta, the foundation was designed to support a 10-story structure. However, the two-story first phase was the only phase ever completed. Between 1934 and 1981, the building served as the long-time downtown location of Rosenblums. In 2004, the building was left empty for good when Wachovia vacated multiple structures, in a move to relocate 2,000 bank employees from downtown.

The Akers-Cody Building during downtown’s retail heyday. (State Archives of Florida)

This photoshopped image is included as a “what if” the 1920s Florida Land Boom survived.

2. Monticello Drug Company

214-218 West Adams Street

An architectural elevation of the Monticello Drug Company building. (City of Jacksonville Historic Preservation Office)

This seven-story, Chicago-style building was designed by Mellen C. Greeley in 1929. It was constructed to be the offices of the Monticello Drug Company. The Monticello Drug Company was founded by T.S. Roberts in Monticello, FL in the 1890s and manufactured a patent medicine for malaria. The company relocated to Jacksonville in 1908 because of better transportation facilities. During WWII, it manufactured pills and liquids to treat cold symptoms. The building’s first floor was radically altered in 1982 when the fixed plate glass storefronts and cast stone facade were filled in.

1. Claude Nolan Cadillac Building

937 North Main Street

Claude Nolan Cadillac a century ago. (State Archives of Florida)

The Claude Nolan Cadillac Building is one of a few H.J. Klutho buildings still standing that has been altered beyond recognition. When it was completed in 1912, the automobile showroom was a Prairie-style building with large plate glass windows, a projecting cornice and a suspended canopy. In 1948, a W.A. Moore designed renovation project modified the facade into what exists today.