Jacksonville City Hall now occupies the St. James Building, the historic structure at 117 West Duval Street. Designed by Henry John Klutho and opened in 1912, this is one of the many downtown buildings Klutho created after the Great Fire of 1901 and is considered his Prairie School masterpiece. The building occupies 117 West Duval Street, on the former site of the original St. James Hotel.
That hotel, built after the Civil War by Connecticut investors, once lodged 500 guests and boasted a passenger elevator and a restaurant praised for excellent cuisine. Klutho’s St. James was originally planned as a mixed-use building and was home to the Cohen Bros. Department Store (later May Cohens) until the store closed in 1987, leaving the building empty for a time.
In 1993 the City of Jacksonville purchased it under the River City Renaissance plan with the intention of remodeling it as the new City Hall, and it reopened in 1997. On April 18, 2012, the American Institute of Architects’ Florida Chapter placed the building on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.
The façade and West Duval Street stretch out before you, echoes of Klutho's Prairie School design.