Vintage Times-Union: New downtown project would be named after architect Taylor Hardwick

Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
A rendering from the early 1960s shows architect Taylor Hardwick's proposed main library building for Jacksonville. Named the Haydon Burns Library, it would open in 1965 to raves and pans. With its bright tiles and 88 exterior fins, it was, to be sure, like no other government building in the city.
A rendering from the early 1960s shows architect Taylor Hardwick's proposed main library building for Jacksonville. Named the Haydon Burns Library, it would open in 1965 to raves and pans. With its bright tiles and 88 exterior fins, it was, to be sure, like no other government building in the city.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Though Jacksonville architect Taylor Hardwick died in 2014, his name could soon go up in big letters downtown if an Atlanta development company can pull off its plan to build a 322-unit apartment building on the riverfront.

The Downtown Investment Authority voted unanimously this month to give the company rights to redevelop the vacant lot where the Duval County Courthouse once stood.

The Hardwick: Design inspired by Taylor Hardwick gets nod for $140 million high-rise in downtown

Photos: See what the proposed Hardwick apartments would look like

Vintage Times-Union: Friendship Fountain, 56 years old, still draws visitors to Jacksonville

Much of Taylor Hardwick's original Friendship Park, including this feature, has been demolished to make way for other things, making it less than half the size it was when it opened in 1965. Yet its much-renovated centerpiece, Friendship Fountain, remains a Jacksonville icon, the site of tourist visits, school trips, protests, rallies and civic announcements. And when the Super Bowl came to the city in 2005, it was seen again and again in televised images across the world.

As my colleague David Bauerlein noted in his story on the project, the developer would pay tribute to Hardwick's architectural vision by calling its 332-unit apartment building The Hardwick with the name in tall letters atop the high-rise.

Hardwick, who died at 89 in 2014, was one of several influential architects along with William Morgan and Robert Broward whose works pushed design boundaries in Jacksonville in the second half of the 20th century.

Duval's aging campuses: Good news, bad news for Jacksonville's historic schools

His work, among many projects, includes Friendship Fountain on the Southbank and several schools, among them Wolfson and Westside high schools.

A rendering shows The Hardwick, named after noted Jacksonville architect Taylor Hardwick, on the site of the old county courthouse between Main Street and a planned St. Johns River marina. Note his name up on the building.
A rendering shows The Hardwick, named after noted Jacksonville architect Taylor Hardwick, on the site of the old county courthouse between Main Street and a planned St. Johns River marina. Note his name up on the building.

If built, the new Hardwick apartments would be a quick stroll from the architect's distinctive 1965 project, the old Haydon Burns Library, noted for its brightly colored tiles and 88 concrete fins that decorate the exterior. Saved by fans from threatened demolition, it's now the Jessie Ball duPont Center for nonprofits.

River & Post restaurant: Taylor Hardwick's Fletcher Building in Riverside

Wolfson High School, designed by architect Taylor Hardwick. It began life as a twin to what was then Forrest High School, now Westside High.
Wolfson High School, designed by architect Taylor Hardwick. It began life as a twin to what was then Forrest High School, now Westside High.

Though not beloved by everybody, at least at first, it did stand in marked, whimsical contrast to other staid governmental buildings in the city.

Hardwick, in a Times-Union interview several weeks before he died, said his goal was to bring joy to the library: "I wanted to make the building a delightful place to inhabit."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville downtown apartments honors mid-century modern architect