Jacksonville Architecture

A 1901 news article described the architecture of this building as "pure German Renaissance style with a pleasing Hanseatic style in the gable ends." The first story originally had large show windows, topped by a continuous panel of small panes of beveled glass that extended across both fronts. Although this lower story has now been altered, the upper portion of the facade remains unchanged. This second story displays a fanciful collection of terra-cotta ornamentation and pilasters, various types of window openings, a balustrade with urns, and three oddly positioned exotic gables. Begun four months after the 1901 Fire, the Bisbee Building is a good example of the profusion of architectural styles that emerged in the post-Fire building boom. William A. Bisbee (see D-55) commissioned one of Atlanta's most prominent late nineteenth-century architects, G. L. Norrman, to design this building. Norrman is probably best known for designing the Richard Peters residence, which is one of Atlanta's finest surviving Queen Anne style homes (it is on the National Register and houses a well known Atlanta restaurant, "The Mansion").