Henry Klutho's Prairie Style Architecture

Henry John Klutho (1873–1964) was Jacksonville's most significant architect, and Riverside-Avondale is the best place to see his work. The neighbourhood contains dozens of his Prairie Style houses, recognisable by their low-pitched roofs, deep overhanging eaves, horizontal emphasis, and integration with the landscape — design principles borrowed from Frank Lloyd Wright and adapted to subtropical Florida conditions.

The Riverside neighbourhood association produces a self-guided walking tour map that identifies Klutho buildings, available from local shops or downloadable online. Among the highlights are the Claude Nolan Cadillac Building (one of the oldest car dealerships in the United States), the St. James Building downtown, and the Seminole Club. Klutho also designed many of the smaller craftsman bungalows that give Riverside its domestic character. For anyone interested in American architectural history, this is one of the more rewarding concentrated collections of Prairie Style work outside of Chicago.

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A story
Henry John Klutho arrived in Jacksonville in 1901, two years after the Great Fire of 1901 that destroyed most of the city centre. He designed many of the buildings that replaced what burned, and then moved west to Riverside where he designed houses for himself and his clients over the following decades. He met Frank Lloyd Wright personally and was deeply influenced by Wright's Prairie Style, though his version adapted the horizontal rooflines and organic forms to Florida's climate and construction traditions.

Other places in Riverside and Avondale