121 Atlantic Place, formerly the Atlantic National Bank Building, is a historic skyscraper in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. It was built in 1909 as the headquarters for the

Atlantic National Bank The Atlantic National Bank was an American bank based in Jacksonville, Florida. It existed from 1903 until 1985, when it was acquired by First Union. Subsequently, First Union changed its name to Wachovia Corporation when it also acquired Wachov ...

, and is located at 121 West Forsyth Street. It was the tallest building in Jacksonville and in Florida from 1909 to 1912, and remains an office building today.

History

The building was designed by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

architects Mowbray and Uffinger and built between 1908 and 1909 by the James Stewart Company for the

. The

steel frame Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The developm ...

structure stands at 10 stories and high, and includes a white Sylacauga marble covering on the bottom two floors and white

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

on the upper eight. The facade includes ornate detailing, two-story columns around the entrance, and other decorative elements. The building was constructed amid a three-way race with the Bisbee Building and the Seminole Hotel to become Jacksonville's first skyscraper. All three buildings were located on Forsyth Street within a block of each other, and all three were ten stories tall. The Atlantic National Bank Building broke ground in August 1908, shortly after the Bisbee Building but before the Seminole Hotel. The Bisbee opened just before the Atlantic National Bank Building the following year, winning the race. However, at 41 meters the Atlantic Bank Building was taller than the others, making it the tallest building in Jacksonville and the tallest in Florida at the time. It held that position until the Florida Life Building was completed in 1912. The Atlantic National Bank, founded by Edward W. Lane, Thomas P. Denham, and Fred W. Hoyt in 1903, relocated its bank room from the nearby Dyal-Upchurch Building to the new headquarters. In 1926 the bank opened the Atlantic National Bank Annex directly behind the Bank Building on West Adams Street. This building, now known as the Schultz Building, was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1997. In 1985 Atlantic National Bank merged with

First Union First Union Corporation was a bank holding company that provided commercial and retail banking services in eleven states in the eastern U.S. First Union also provided various other financial services, including mortgage banking, credit card, inv ...

, which was in turn acquired by

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

(and subsequently

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

). The Atlantic National Bank Building changed hands over the years, becoming known as 121 Atlantic Place, but is still in use as an office building. It was renovated in the 2000s, with a five-story addition added to the west. One unique feature of the structure is its pedestrian tunnel connecting to the BB&T Bank Building, the only such tunnel in Downtown Jacksonville still in use. This tunnel, originally created to facilitate secure travel between buildings, has been home to a small restaurant, Benny's, since 1985.

References

{{Jacksonville attractions Office buildings completed in 1909 Skyscraper office buildings in Jacksonville, Florida Downtown Jacksonville Northbank, Jacksonville Laura Street 1909 establishments in Florida Bank buildings in Georgia (U.S. state)

History

See also

References