After the Great Fire of 1901 destroyed most of downtown Jacksonville, Andrew Carnegie offered the city $50,000 to build a new library, provided the City had a site and appropriated $5,000 a year for library support. The City agreed, and in 1905 the Jacksonville Free Public Library opened on the northeast corner of Ocean and Adams Streets. The building was designed by architect Henry John Klutho in the Neoclassical Revival style, with four columns on the facade. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. Today, the building is known as the Bedell Building and houses a law firm.
By 1960, the Carnegie-funded library was too small to serve a community of 455,000 people and the City approved building a new library, to be located diagonally across from the Carnegie library, on the southwest corner of Ocean and Adams streets. To make room for the new building, the City demolished its old City Hall — a classic structure with a great dome, also designed by Henry John Klutho.
The library trustees commissioned Hardwick & Lee, Architects, to design the new library.
Architect Taylor Hardwick worked for five years designing and overseeing construction of the new library.
In the new library, Hardwick sought to create "a bright spot in a drab urban environment. He wanted a building that would attract people and create in them an interest to enter and find out what was going on inside." (Taylor Hardwick: 60 Years of Design; Hardwick/Hardwick)
The 126,000-square-foot building was wrapped in vibrantly colored tiles and had strong lines and angles. Glass walls along Adams Street allowed the public to see into the building.
Inside, the building was an explosion of color and light. A vivid mosaic mural, designed by local artist Ann Williams, wrapped all four sides of the elevator and stair tower on the east side of the building. Called "Momentum and Direction,” it was called "a meditation on man’s unending quest for knowledge on an ever-changing course.”
Though the building was considered "odd looking" by many Jacksonville residents, it found a quirky place in the citizenry's heart. Thousands of Jacksonvillians recall attending performances in the second-floor theater, affectionately called the "puppet theater" because of the puppet shows performed there.
Named for Haydon Burns, the longest-sitting mayor in Jacksonville's history (1949-1965), the new library opened in November 1965. It cost $3.7 million to build and was designed to house 550,000 volumes.
From the "children's room" on the second floor to the stacks in the basement, the Haydon Burns Library was a true "anchor institution" in downtown Jacksonville for four decades.
In September 2005, the City vacated the Haydon Burns Library in favor of a new public library a few blocks away. Once again, the existing library became too small for the growing urban area and its technology was woefully out of date. The challenges of updating the building while it was occupied were too daunting.
The City made several attempts to sell the building, before finally closing a deal with a group of private business owners in April 2007. But timing was against these investors and the Great Recession frustrated all attempts to redevelop the property.
The Jessie Ball duPont Center―now known informally as “The Jessie”―opened to the public on June 25, 2015. The building was renovated using the federal New Markets Tax Credit program and created 345 construction jobs.
Today, The Jessie is one of the largest nonprofit centers in the United States. Home to a diverse group of 27 nonprofit organizations, it also serves as a public space for North Florida residents that hosts a variety of programs including art installations, musical events, community conversations and more.
From the moment any employee, client, donor, or visitor steps through the door until they leave, The Jessie and its staff strive to create a welcoming environment where everyone feels like they belong.
The Jessie features 17 shared high-tech spaces throughout the facility from this Great Hall that can host events with hundreds of guests to 4-person conference rooms and everything in between. Tenants have access to a fully equipped audio and video production studio, shared kitchens, and a shared IT infrastructure that provides 1 gigabyte internet access and secured wireless access for all staff throughout the facility. The Jessie builds, maintains and supports all aspects of its network infrastructure for tenants.
For all visitors, The Jessie features a high-speed guest Wi-Fi network, a variety of comfortably furnished spaces throughout the facility, a children’s play area, and a private phone booth with full computer access and free calls.
The Jessie has an enterprise-grade shared technology infrastructure for all tenants. This was created to ensure all nonprofits could operate at the highest levels at an affordable cost that is shared across organizations. The creation of this infrastructure also helps better integrate the shared spaces throughout The Jessie for tenants. Since each tenant is on its own building-wide secured network, the whole building becomes their office space… not just the square footage they lease.
Energy efficiency is a core design element of The Jessie. Not only to have a net positive environmental impact, but also to control costs for our below market rate operating model. The 125,000 square foot building is LEED Gold certified, holds an Energy Star rating of 94% and scores higher than average in its overall performance compared to similar peer buildings.
The Jessie rents its shared spaces to community organizations and individuals who are not tenants to generate revenue that augments rent income and allows for additional programming partnerships. The Jessie regularly hosts conferences, weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, nonprofit galas and other parties. Combined with The Jessie’s focused programming, these outside events build deeper links to citizens throughout Jacksonville who make a connection to this place and its mission.
Take a self-guided audio tour of The Jessie to learn more about all of our spaces and amenities.
The Jessie is owned and operated by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, a private foundation based in Jacksonville. The duPont Fund was created by the Last Will and Testament of Jessie Ball duPont, the third wife of Alfred I. duPont.
Jessie Ball duPont has long been recognized for her generosity and as an early female philanthropist. Over the course of her lifetime, her philanthropy totaled $790 million in today’s dollars.
Raised and educated in rural Virginia, then working and living in California, Delaware, and Florida, Jessie was steeped in a strong sense of place. As one of the original place-based philanthropists, and a trailblazing female business executive, together with her brother she came to manage the vast business empire of her husband, Alfred I. duPont, as well as their shared philanthropic efforts.
In providing for the Jessie Ball duPont Fund through her Last Will and Testament, Jessie ensured that her assets continued to support the places and institutions she knew and loved. We are guided by Mrs. duPont's intent to strengthen the communities and institutions she cared about–which range from small parishes in the Florida panhandle to large, innovative nonprofits dedicated to serving the most vulnerable.
Jessie also held beliefs that we cannot stand by, including her explicit and unchanging support of racial segregation. Our responsibility to repair the damage that Mrs. duPont’s beliefs caused is fundamental. It is our responsibility to make amends through our actions today.
Learn more about how we are acknowledging, reconciling and repairing the harms caused by Mrs. duPont's beliefs and actions.
In December 2012, after a staff holiday luncheon, Jessie Ball duPont Fund then-President Sherry Magill toured the vacant building. The duPont Fund had, for some time, considered buying a downtown Jacksonville property for its offices. Magill and her colleagues were struck by the enormous potential that lay within the dilapidated Hardwick library.
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund purchased the building in June 2013 for $2.2 million, paid $250,000 in unpaid taxes on the building, and began a $25 million renovation to convert the building to offices and gathering spaces for local nonprofit organizations.
