Architecture
Roy A. Benjamin Master of Style
By Wayne W. Wood Although he only had a seventh-grade education, and although over a third of his buildings were built outside of Jacksonville, Roy A. Benjamin was one of this city’s most admired and versatile architects in the first half of the twentieth century. Despite his lack of formal academic training, he mastered more styles of architecture than any of his contemporaries. Perhaps his most astonishing achievement was that he designed over 200 movie theaters, a number surpassed by only a handful of other American architects. Benjamin’s...
read moreLandscaping the Intangible
Walter HoodAmerican Designer/Professor/Artist How to begin describing Walter Hood, the creative director and founder of Hood Design Studio? His work, accolades, and influence are extensive, and a single article cannot hope to encapsulate it all. So, rather than peppering you, the reader, with nonstop paragraphs, this piece is built upon the language Hood so often uses. This is an invitation to sink into a favorite chair and have a conversation with an icon from the affinitive spheres of art, landscape, and urbanism. HYBRIDITY How...
read moreFord Motor Company assembly plant
Jacksonville, Florida was honored for nearly a hundred years to be home to one of industrial architect Albert Kahn’s “automotive cathedrals” before it was demolished in June 2023 by its owner, Amkin Hill Street, LLC, just one year before the building would have reached its century mark in 2024. The Jacksonville Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, on the bank of the St. Johns River just north of the Mathews Bridge, was constructed over a three-year period from January 1924 to November 1926, faithful to Kahn’s trademark “daylight factory” design...
read moreARCHITECTURAL DESIGN & BUILD PROJECTS 2024
Since architecture and design are both an art and a business, this annual issue feels like a seamless fit. Arbus takes great pride in serving as the platform for so many of the region’s best architects, designers, and builders to promote their work. Take a look and discover this year’s most exciting changes to our built environment. Be inspired.
read moreArbus Adventures Cuba … It’s Complicated
Images by Vanessa Harper (VH), Alberto Morales (AM), and Lara Ortiz (LO) Words by Cinda Sherman Cuba is both ugly and beautiful. It is ravaged with despair and neglect, yet it is vibrant and alive with promise. This all serves to make Cuba complicated. You can read about Cuba in the news, but you can’t quite capture its complexity until you’re there on the ground in real time experiencing Cuba’s everyday contradictions. The country has been in chronic distress since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and today, the island is suffocating in the...
read moreFlorida Theatre Restoration Sets Stage for Next Century
By Lorrie DeFrank Photos by Lily Snowden it’s showtime again at the Florida Theatre and competing for top billing is the building itself. Restored to its original magnificence, it’s set for a 50-year encore—at the very least. In preparation for the historic landmark’s 100th anniversary in 2027, a major—but not final—phase of the renovation was completed while it was closed from July to October this year. Patrons attending The Rocky Horror Picture Show on October 28 were the first theatergoers to see the transformation. But...
read more30th Anniversary Pearl issue Timeline
The ABC’s of 30 Years ofthe Arts, Business, and Culture Introduction by Wayne W. Wood Design by Natalie McCray Since its auspicious beginning three decades ago, Arbus has been acclaimed for its striking covers and creative content. The nearly 300 covers of Arbus have consistently been works of art unto themselves—resplendent graphic compositions by mostly local artists that not only show off the depth of our homegrown talent but also serve as eye-catching invitations to explore the stellar content inside the magazine. No other local...
read moreA New Public Art Installation
Honoring the Arlington Community By Melanie Young Just as the eyes are the window to the soul, the entrance to a college campus is a window into the community that lives, works, learns, and plays there. For Jacksonville University (JU), that window recently became even more emblematic of the university’s relationship with the Arlington community. At the site of the turbo traffic roundabout welcoming drivers and pedestrians to campus—the nation’s first such traffic configuration which improves traffic flow, access and, most importantly,...
read moreMarsh & Saxelbye A beautiful Legacy
By Wayne W. Wood Jacksonville’s extraordinary natural landscape is complimented by its (often overlooked) manmade beauty. It is a surprise to many that Jacksonville has a greater number of outstanding architectural gems than any other city in Florida. Jacksonville has the most sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places and a quarter of those were designed by a single architectural firm—Marsh & Saxelbye. Made up of partners of Mulford Marsh and Harold Saxelbye, the firm dominated Jacksonville’s architecture from 1920 to 1930....
read moreLightner Museum
An Iconic St. Augustine Museum Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary By David Bagnall, Executive Director of The Lightner Museum This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Lightner Museum and the 135th anniversary of the museum’s historic St. Augustine building. Located in the heart of downtown St. Augustine, the Lightner has been an important part of the community since it was first built as the Hotel Alcazar in 1888. Founded by Chicago publisher Otto C. Lightner (1886-1950), the Lightner Museum offers an immersive...
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