AN ENTERTAINING PLACE

(Source of image: 1957/58 Jacksonville Municipal Yearbook)

How do you improve an ugly waterfront?  One way is to erect new buildings!  This is what the City of Jacksonville planned for parts of the Northbank during the late Fifties.  In the picture above, a model shows the forthcoming Civic Auditorium on the left.  Dedicated in 1962, this facility was renovated during the 1990s into the state-of-the-art Times-Union Performing Arts Center.  The downtown structure sits between the Jacksonville Landing and the Acosta Bridge.  The tall building on the right is the Atlantic Coastline Building, which opened in 1960.  Mayor Haydon Burns successfully lobbied the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to transfer its headquarters to the River City. 

CLICK HERE for the auditorium site before construction

CLICK HERE for undeveloped site again

CLICK HERE to check on the property's progress

CLICK HERE for the completed venue

CLICK HERE for a recent photo of the Performing Arts Center

THE AUDITORIUM TO COME -- Some interesting details about the proposed Civic Auditorium were given by the 1957/58 Jacksonville Municipal Yearbook: "The site will be on property purchased from the Seaboard Air Line Railroad... The City parking lot adjacent to the auditorium will accommodate more than 1,900 cars... The proposed structure will include many features of the most modern design of auditoriums.  It will have an ample stage completely equipped with fly gallery, scenery dock, projection booth, orchestra pit, dressing rooms, mechanical equipment spaces, storage rooms, and other service spaces... Its use may be devoted to theatrical productions, such as plays and minstrels, and also to musicals, concerts, operas, and ballets.  It could be used for gatherings such as conventions, forums, lectures, graduations, citizenship ceremonies, and religious assemblies."

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