Remembering the Lost Hotels from Downtown Jacksonville’s History

Downtown Jacksonville has a shortage of hotels. It’s an issue that has existed for decades and even resulted in national ridicule for the city when it hosted the Super Bowl in 2005.

But there was a time, several years ago, when downtown Jax boasted over two dozen hotels. It was back in the heyday of the area, when theaters, restaurants, and streetcars lined its streets rather than empty buildings and skyscrapers.

Most of those hotels were demolished long ago. The rest have either been adapted for another use or continue to sit unused.

We’ve chosen a handful of these historic hotels to highlight; this is by no means a comprehensive list, but it’s a good sampling of the type of hotels that once graced downtown Jax.

HOTEL GEORGE WASHINGTON

Billed as the “Wonder Hotel of the South,” Hotel George Washington opened in 1926 on the corner of Adams and Julia streets.

The 15-story, 300-room luxury hotel was commissioned by Robert Kloeppel, who owned multiple hotels in Florida. Designed by local architecture firm Marsh and Saxelbye, the hotel’s most iconic feature was its large neon-lighted signage. Each room featured a bathtub, steam heating, and a radio. Its main dining room was capable of seating up to 600; it also featured a coffee shop and drug store. An adjacent parking garage rounded out its original list of amenities.

In the early ‘40s, a 2,000-seat auditorium was added to the hotel, making it a popular venue for musical performances. It also became a hotspot for the rich and affluent when passing through downtown Jax, making it the “place to be” for those in search of glitz and glamour.

The hotel outlasted its main competition, the nearby Hotel Roosevelt, but it failed to survive the rapid downturn of downtown Jax in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Kloeppel sold the hotel in 1963, and ten years later, the building was demolished. The property upon which it once sat is currently a vacant lot but is set to be redeveloped as JEA’s new headquarters building.

CARLING / ROOSEVELT HOTEL

The luxurious 335-room Carling Hotel first opened its doors in 1926. The hotel was named for Carson Dinkler, founder of Dinkler Hotels which acquired the hotel during construction. Its building at 31 Adams Street was designed by New York-based architecture firm Thompson, Holmes & Converse.

In the mid-‘30s, the hotel was purchased by hotelier Robert Meyer and rebranded as Hotel Roosevelt. The company would operate the hotel until 1957, when it began construction on a new hotel nearby.

Hotel Roosevelt thrived for many years as one of a few luxury hotel options in the area, but it met its end after a tragedy in 1963. A large fire caused by faulty electrical wiring erupted in the midst of Gator Bowl weekend, killing 22 people and causing major damage to the building.

The hotel shut down permanently as a result of the fire, and the property was later converted into apartments for retirees. The apartment complex shut down in 1989, causing the building to sit empty for over a decade.

Fortunately, in 2005 the building reopened as The Carling, a 100-unit apartment complex from Vestcor. The building is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

HOTEL WINDSOR

The Windsor Hotel, located next to Hemming Park, actually had two different incarnations.

The first Windsor was built in 1875 and was among multiple hotels surrounding the city’s first park. It thrived during Jacksonville’s tourism boom in the late 1800s, but unfortunately the building was burned to the ground in the Great Fire of 1901.

Undeterred, the building’s owners not only rebuilt the Windsor in 1902 but also bought the land formerly occupied by its chief rival, the St. James Hotel. That property was later sold to the Cohen Brothers, who developed a department store on the land.

The new hotel was built with grand architectural features both inside and out, which it used as a major selling point in its marketing brochures. Its balcony dining room overlooked Hemming Park, which at the time consisted mostly of trees and open grass fields.

At some point, the hotel was under the management of hotelier Robert Meyer – which would, ironically, later occupy the property in a different capacity. (Refer to the next entry on this list for more on that.)

The Windsor played a large role in establishing the trend of decadent downtown hotels, but that trend would also prove to be its downfall. It faced stiff competition from other, more modern options, and by the late 1940s, it was no longer financially viable. The hotel was demolished in 1950.

Originally converted to a surface parking lot, the Windsor’s former property now serves as the front lawn for the Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse.

HOTEL ROBERT MEYER

The grand 19-story, 510-room Hotel Robert Meyer opened in 1959 at Duval and Julia streets on a portion of the former Hotel Windsor property.

The hotel, designed by New York-based William B. Tabler Architects and built to replace the company’s existing Hotel Roosevelt, featured a lengthy list of amenities including a 200-car underground garage, radio and television in each room, and a ground floor lobby featuring a drug store, small shops, and offices for every major airline of the era. Food and drink options included Café Caribe and the Bali H’ai Cocktail Lounge. It had one floor dedicated entirely to space for holding conventions, with space for 1,200 people in total. Small meeting rooms and a 5,000 square foot exhibit hall were also available.

Hotel Robert Meyer essentially became the city’s first de-facto convention center, but it proved to be too ahead of its time. The hotel fizzled out in 1977, surviving less than 20 years despite its decadent design and amenities.

The building briefly became home to a Holiday Inn, but that concept failed as well. It sat empty for two decades before plans emerged to build a new federal courthouse on its land.

In 1998, the Hotel Robert Meyer building was demolished. The Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse sits at the intersection it once occupied.

SEMINOLE HOTEL

Built in 1909, the Seminole Hotel at the corner of Hogan and Forsyth streets was designed in Prairie style by noted architect Henry J. Klutho. The 10-story building was one of the three tallest structures in Jacksonville when it was first built.

The hotel was owned and operated by hotelier J.B. Pound, who also owned multiple hotels in Savannah, GA. It featured a coffee shop, barber shop, cigar and newspaper stand, and a ticket station that sold tickets for different forms of travel. Each room had a radio, a bath and shower, and full-length mirrors.

Its most distinctive feature was the Indian Room, a cocktail lounge and bar that featured “authentic scenes” of life from Florida’s Seminole tribe.

Like the Windsor, the hotel came under the control of Robert Meyer at some point.

The Seminole closed in the late ’60s and was torn down in 1974, after which the property was used as a parking lot. Its property is now utilized for part of the Bank of America Tower. Some of the original ornamental Seminole heads from the building were preserved and have been sporadically displayed over the years.