The former St. Andrew's Episcopal Church building, also known as Old St. Andrew's Event Venue, is an historic building located at 317 Florida Avenue (now 317 A. Philip Randolph Boulevard) in downtown
Jacksonville
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 ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
. It was originally an Episcopal church, but closed when the parish relocated to the suburbs in 1960. On May 4, 1976, the edifice was added to the U.S.
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 the 1990s it was purchased by the City of Jacksonville and turned over to the
Jacksonville Historical Society
Jacksonville Historical Society (JHS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Jacksonville, Florida, begun by 231 charter members on May 3, 1929 at the Carling Hotel.
History
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church was designed by architect Robert S. Schuyler in the
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style. Schuyler also designed St. Peter's Church in Fernandina, built in 1881, as well as chapels in
Waldo
Waldo may refer to:
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* Waldo (footballer) (1934-2019), full name Waldo Machado da Silva, Brazilian footballer
Places Canada
* Waldo, ...
,
Fairbanks
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the p ...
Lake Santa Fe
Lake Santa Fe is a lake that is fed by seepage from the Floridan Aquifer in northeastern Alachua County, Florida. The lake is located entirely in Alachua County, but is bounded on the east and South side by Bradford County, Clay County, and P ...
. St. Andrew's was built in 1887 on a single level using brick masonry and contained a massive front corner tower with louvered belfry and steep spire roof. It stood at 317 Florida Avenue, now 317 A. Philip Randolph Boulevard. The architecture was praised in the 1889 edition of ''King's Handbook of Notable Episcopal Churches in the United States'':
St. Andrews was the only major church in the city that survived the
Great Fire of 1901
The Great Fire of 1901 was a conflagration that occurred in Jacksonville, Florida on May 3, 1901. It was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and the third largest urban fire in the U.S., next to the Great Chicago Fire, and the 1906 Sa ...
.
Economic boom
Beginning with
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the area along the river north of the city center experienced an economic boom as dozens of industrial operations moved in.
Liberty Ship
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...
s were built to support the war effort. The
Gator Bowl Stadium
The Gator Bowl was an American football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally built in 1927, all but a small portion was razed in 1994 in preparation for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars' inaugural season; the reconstructed stadium became Jac ...
was erected in 1949 and construction began on the
Mathews Bridge
The Mathews Bridge is a cantilever bridge in Jacksonville, Florida, which spans the St. Johns River. Constructed in 1953, the bridge brings traffic along the Arlington Expressway between downtown Jacksonville and the Arlington neighborhood. It ...
, which opened in 1953. Jacksonville Baseball Park began construction in 1954. The once quiet neighborhood had become undesirable, and residents began to move elsewhere. Residential development in the
suburbs
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separa ...
increased dramatically, and membership at St. Andrews fell to the point that it could no longer support itself. The Arlington Mission of the
Episcopal Diocese of Florida
The Episcopal Diocese of Florida is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA). It originally comprised the whole state of Florida, but is now bounded on the west by the Apalachicola River, on the north by the Georg ...
was created in July 1959, and in January 1960, it was renamed St. Andrew's and all the furnishings and memorials of the old St. Andrew's were moved to 7801 Lone Star Road.
Old St. Andrew's Episcopal Church was
deconsecrated
Deconsecration, also called secularization, is the act of removing a religious blessing from something that had been previously consecrated by a minister or priest of that religion. The practice is usually performed on churches or synagogues to ...
, closed and boarded up. The once thriving area around the church declined, and by the late 1970s the building had fallen into disuse and disrepair. Vacant for almost three decades, the building was a tremendous challenge for historic preservation. The situation changed with the arrival of the
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...
NFL team, as the City of Jacksonville purchased most of the land around Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, including the Old St. Andrew's site.
Rebirth
The City of Jacksonville gave the
Jacksonville Historical Society
Jacksonville Historical Society (JHS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Jacksonville, Florida, begun by 231 charter members on May 3, 1929 at the Carling Hotel. However, a $242,000 preservation grant was secured from the state of Florida in 1996, and a
challenge grant Challenge grants are funds disbursed by one party (the grant maker), usually a government agency, corporation, foundation or trust (sometimes anonymously), typically to a non-profit entity or educational institution (the grantee) upon completion ...
from the Weaver Foundation helped the JHS to raise $1 million to complete the project."Jacksonville Historical Society" Down Town Jacksonville Restoration began in 1996 and was completed on April 18, 1998, with the structure becoming the new home of the Jacksonville Historical Society. Since restoration the building is seen as one of the finest specimens of nineteenth-century architecture in Duval County, and it is a popular spot for meetings, weddings and other civic events. It was the site of the
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
Super Bowl XXXIX
Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League ...