A city burned. Three legends rose.
In May 1901, the largest urban fire in the Southeast destroyed downtown Jacksonville in a single afternoon. What rose from the ashes was the boldest skyline in the South — and no corner tells that story better than Laura & Forsyth.
The Marble Bank
The first of the trio — a neoclassical jewel sheathed entirely in marble, its six grand columns a declaration that Jacksonville would return more splendid than before. Inside, a skylit banking hall with a coffered ceiling still ranks among the most beautiful rooms in the city.
The Bisbee Building
Architect Henry J. Klutho's gamble: the first reinforced-concrete high-rise in the entire American South. Lenders refused to believe it could stand until Klutho proved the engineering. Every office leased before completion — so its owner ordered the tower doubled in width mid-construction.
The Florida Life Building
Klutho's Prairie School masterpiece opened as the tallest building in Florida — celebrated as Jacksonville's "purest statement of a skyscraper." Its rooftop once held a three-room penthouse cottage with its own lawn and garden, floating above downtown.
The Next Chapter
After decades standing silent, the trio has been entrusted to the Becovic family of companies — residences in the towers, a new hotel concept, and the Marble Bank reborn as a premier bar, restaurant, and event destination.
