Abandoned Florida: Jax's Federal Reserve Bank

Abandoned Florida takes a look inside Downtown Jacksonville's long vacant Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Jacksonville Branch.

Now known as the Physician and Surgeon Building, the old Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta located on Hogan Street was opened in 1924. The building was designed by Henrietta Cuttino Dozier, considered the first female architect in the state of Georgia and was the first woman in the Southern United States to receive formal architectural training from a national school of architecture.

Born in Fernandina Beach in 1872, Henrietta C. Dozier was the third and last child of Henry Cuttino Dozier, who died a few months before she was born, and Cornelia Ann Scriven Dozier, both originally from South Carolina. She had a brother, Scriven, and a sister, Louise.

From an early age, Henrietta knew she wanted to become an architect and after high school, she apprenticed in an architect’s office before spending two years at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which she graduated with an architectural degree in 1899. She was just one of three women in a class of 176, and the only one to graduate. In 1905, she would become the first Southern woman to be accepted by the American Institute of Architects

Henrietta Dozier worked in Atlanta for thirteen years before moving her practice to Jacksonville in 1914 where she became the city’s first and foremost woman architect. In 1903, she designed the All Saints Episcopal Chapel in Atlanta. Considered her favorite commission, this small chapel was later damaged by fire and incorporated into a larger structure. While still in Atlanta, Henrietta C. Dozier was responsible for the design of the Saint Philips Episcopal Church in Jacksonville which was constructed in 1903.

She worked for the Jacksonville Engineering Department during World War I and then went out on her own, opening an architectural practice in 1918. During this time, she used various gender-neutral or male-sounding variants on her name throughout her career, including ‘H.C. Dozier’ and ‘Harry’ Dozier. Some of the more noted buildings designed by Henrietta C. Dozier in Jacksonville include the Lampru Court Apartments which were demolished in 2007, residences at 1819 Goodwin Street, 2215 River Boulevard and 1814 Powell Place, and of course the old Federal Reserve Bank which was designed in association with Atlanta architect, A. Ten Eyck Brown. She died in 1947.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is the sixth district of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. Referred to as the Atlanta Fed, it covers U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, the eastern two-thirds of Tennessee, the southern portion of Louisiana, and southern Mississippi as part of the Federal Reserve System. Along with its Atlanta headquarters, the Banks operates five branches with the sixth district, which are located in Birmingham, Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville, and New Orleans.

The Jacksonville Branch was located here on Hogan Street until 1952 when a newer building was constructed. That building is currently occupied by the Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department. An insurance company, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, occupied the building in the 1960s. Dr. Paek Naykoon purchased the building in 1982 as his primary care clinic, which is where it got its current name.

The building was designed in the neo-classical style and the exterior has remained unchanged throughout all these years. However, the interior has undergone vast renovations which have destroyed much of the original work. The building is currently for sale.

Next Page: Interior Photographs of the Federal Reserve Bank