We wanted to give a shout out to the crew over at the Metro Jacksonville website for their visual presentation, The Ghosts of Jacksonville’s Past.  This series of images is a dynamic reminder of what happens when a city turns its back on its historic buildings and allows the owner to neglect the building to the point where they are allowed to be demolished.  In one example, pictured below, you can see the juxtaposition of the once standing and contributing structure, the E.C. Newsom Furniture Company Building, set against the site today, a grass parking lot:

image via www.metrojacksonville.com

We’re sure that most of our readers in Jacksonville have already had a chance to see the image set and article, but think it warrants a look from our non-local readers.  Obviously, these images are depressing, and it was the thought of losing all of these great older buildings that pushed us to do the Urban Facelift Project.

We were asked the other day if we thought downtown Jacksonville is on its way to being a vibrant district, which we do think it is slowly becoming one.  But then we were asked “Surely, it’s better than it was 10 years ago?” Our response was of course, but it’s not nearly the vibrant, bustling downtown that is once was in the first half of the 20th century…also made evidence by the images of The Ghosts of Jacksonville’s Past.