Here at 31 West Adams Street rises The Carling, formerly known as the Carling Hotel and Hotel Roosevelt. This 13-story building was built in 1925 and designed by the New York architects Thompson, Holmes & Converse in an Italian Renaissance style. It originally contained 335 rooms; a contemporary newspaper story depicted it as "300 rooms with bath, running ice water, fans and the latest equipment in the rooms.
When it opened on September 1, 1926, it was hailed as one of Jacksonville's finest hotels. Notice how the three lower stories are faced with Indiana limestone, a red-brick shaft rises above, and the upper stories are trimmed with terra-cotta and surmounted by a balustrade with limestone coping. The paper even called the building "completely fireproof construction.
Its placement was unusual for the time — set in the middle of a block rather than on a corner — and it was constructed and managed by Atlanta's Dinkler Hotel Company. The Carling served as a hotel until 1964 and today functions as a residential building. Indiana limestone rises to terra-cotta trim and a balustrade crowning the structure above you.