The St. Andrew's Episcopal Church sits on the corner at 317 A. Phillip Randolph Blvd. in Jacksonville, Florida. It was constructed in 1887, and it is the only major church to survive The Great Fire of Jacksonville in 1901. The church was deconsecrated in the 1960's and the congregation relocated to the Arlington area of Jacksonville. Today it is owned by The City of Jacksonville and it is a popular venue for weddings meetings and other civic events. You can contact the Jacksonville Historical Society for more information on booking the church.
At the time St. Andrews was constructed in 1887, Robert S. Schuyler had established himself as a respected designer of churches. Schuyler had already designed three carpenter Gothic chapels in Waldo, Fairbanks and Lake Santa Fe Florida. He had garnered much praise for his work on St. Peter's Church in Fernandina, Florida. Schuyler received his architectural training in New York and during the Civil War, he served as a Captain in the 13th Regiment, New York Calvary. He moved to Fernandina in 1881 and practiced architecture there until his death from Bright's disease in 1895.
St. Andrew's church is 67 feet by 91 feet and the plan is rectangular with a side bell tower and polygonal transepts at the apsidal end. The church is constructed of red brick, laid in running bond, on a tabby foundation. The building has brick bearing walls, angle buttresses and exposed hammer beam roof trusses.
Entrance to the church is through the bell tower vestibule into the narthex on the east side or directly into the narthex through a pair of double doors with an equilateral tympanum of mahogany with carved trefoil and quatrefoil motifs in the panels.
Beginning with World War II, the area along the river north of the city center experienced an economic boom as dozens of industrial operations moved in. The Gator Bowl Stadium was erected in 1949 and construction began on the Mathews Bridge, which opened in 1953. Jacksonville Baseball Park began construction in 1954. The once quiet neighborhood had become undesirable, and residents began to move elsewhere. Residential development in the suburbs increased dramatically, and membership at St. Andrews fell to the point that it could no longer support itself.
Old St. Andrew's Episcopal Church was deconsecrated, closed and boarded up. The once thriving area around the church declined, and by the late 1970s the building had fallen into disuse and disrepair. Vacant for almost three decades, the building was a tremendous challenge for historic preservation. The situation changed with the arrival of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team, as the City of Jacksonville purchased most of the land around Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, including the Old St. Andrew's site. Thanks to the city’s cooperation and a challenge grant from the J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver Foundation, Jacksonville Historical Society was able to raise a million dollars to complete the restoration of the old church to use as its headquarters.
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