Designed by noted architect Robert Broward, the Butterfly House is a Mid-Century marvel. It was designed as a showcase house for the new neighborhood in Arlington called Alderman Park in 1957. Broward designed the home so that the roof would collect water and funnel into built into pools.
Broward, a 1948 graduate of Georgia Tech, was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. Broward worked on the development and construction of Florida Southern College. It is the largest collection of Wright buildings in a single area.
Henry John Klutho was a New York City architect who relocated to Jacksonville after the Great Fire of 1901. The home was completed in 1909 and was located on Main Street. The Prairie Style home served as a model home of sorts for Klutho. It was moved to its current location on West 9th Street.
The home was one of the first homes to highlight fire safety. From the Portland Cement to the asbestos shingles, these features helped assuage people’s fears of another fire. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Courtesy of the University of North Florida’s Digital Commons
The company responsible for the cement created a postcard highlighting the house and its safety features.
Bishop Henry Y. Tookes served the Florida District of the AME Church. This home was built in 1939. It is one of the remaining residences of a prosperous Black neighborhood known as Sugar Hill. Like many Black neighborhoods around the country, it was ruined by an interstate going through it.
