Jones Brothers Furniture Company

City/Town: • Jacksonville

Location Class: • Commercial

Built: • 1926 | Abandoned: • N/A

Status: • Under Renovation

Photojournalist: • David Bulit

Table of Contents

Jones Brothers Furniture Co.

The Jones Brothers Furniture Company was founded in 1902, following the boom that occurred after the Great Fire of 1901. It was owned by W. G. and Michael K. Jones, who employed their younger brother R. L. Jones to work in the store. They had a building built in 1913 on Main Street which was later demolished in the 1960s.

Standard Furniture Building

By 1910, R. L. Jones started a rival company, Standard Furniture. In 1926, he developed this building, one story taller than his brothers’ six-story building, to house his prospering business. Designed by Jefferson D Powell, the building was constructed out of reinforced concrete and features Mediterranean Revival detailing at its upper level, as well as originally having a suspended canopy over the main entrance. Other notable features include prism glass above the street-level entrance, the seventh-floor windows with their wrought-iron balconies and spiral columns, and a decorative wrought-iron staircase visible from inside the lobby.

In later years, R. L. Jones’ sons purchased Jones Brothers Furniture Company and merged the two companies together, forming one of the largest family-owned businesses. They kept the Jones Brothers’ name and continued operating out of the Hogan Street building.

Havertys — The original Jones Brothers Furniture Co. Building (later Haverty’s), on Main Street. W.B. Camp designed the building. It was demolished in the 1960s. *The Prairie School Traveler*

Future Plans

Now empty and in a state of neglect, there were plans to turn the building into an office complex for attorneys who frequent the courthouse just a few blocks away, but that never came to fruition. As of 2020, ACE JAX LLC, led by managers Elias Hionides and Andy Allen of Atlantic Beach, plan on renovating the first floor into a residential lobby, a restaurant or coffee shop, and office space. The second floor will feature a fitness center. The second through seven floors will also contain one-bedroom apartment units ranging in size.

You can read about the Jones Brothers Furniture Building and many other abandoned places in my books, Abandoned Jacksonville: Remnants of the River City and Abandoned Jacksonville: Ruins of the First Coast.