Riverside and Avondale

Riverside and Avondale are two adjacent neighborhoods located in Jacksonville, Florida. The area is mostly residential but also includes some commercial districts such as Five Points, the Shoppes of Avondale, and the King Street District. Riverside was initially mapped out in 1868 and was annexed by the city of Jacksonville in 1887. Riverside’s most substantial growth occurred during the time between the Great Fire of 1901, one of Florida’s worst disasters that ended up destroying downtown Jacksonville, and the failure of the 1920s Florida land boom, Florida’s first real estate bubble that burst in 1925 resulting in the abandonment of development projects.

Riverside and Avondale are noteworthy for their diverse architecture and historic preservation, making them the most architecturally varied neighborhoods in Jacksonville. The National Register of Historic Places, the U.S. federal government’s official list of places and objects deemed worthy of preservation for historical significance, lists both the Avondale and Riverside neighborhoods.

Before Riverside and Avondale were developed, most of the area was part of two plantations: Dell’s Bluff and Magnolia Plantation. The Spanish Florida government granted Dell’s Bluff in 1801, and in 1815 granted Magnolia Plantation as well. Both of these plantations changed ownership multiple times before the American Civil War. In 1868, Dell’s Bluff owner, Miles Price, sold the southern part of the plantation to Edward M. Cheney, a Florida Union editor, and John Murray Forbes, a Boston developer, who later mapped out the original Riverside development. Price developed the northern part of his plantation into Jacksonville’s Brooklyn neighborhood which is now a site of residential and commercial developments.

The Riverside and Brooklyn neighborhoods saw moderate growth until 1887. Jacksonville then annexed the neighborhoods and established a streetcar line. After the Great Fire of 1901 destroyed much of Downtown Jacksonville, a lot of the displaced residents moved over to Riverside. The more affluent citizens built extravagant mansions close to the river, while the moderate to low-income families purchased bungalows and plantation houses further in. The neighborhood began growing steadily until the collapse of the Florida land boom in the late 1920s. Architects took this time to experiment with a wide variety of contemporary styles, making Riverside the most architecturally diverse neighborhood in Florida.

Avondale was developed later as an extension to the Riverside area, using the Magnolia Plantation land. In 1884 Northern developers mapped out and planned a community in the area called “Edgewood,” which never ended up taking off and the property was left undeveloped. In 1920 Telfair Stockton and an investment group purchased Edgewood and the surrounding area to develop an upscale subdivision which would later become Avondale, named for Cincinnati’s Avondale neighborhood. Avondale started off as a restricted development and was Jacksonville’s most extensively planned community. While the Riverside neighborhood was more architecturally diverse, Avondale featured more uniform construction, primarily in the Mediterranean Revival style.

Riverside and Avondale changed during the mid-20th century when I-95 and the Fuller Warren Bridge were constructed. St. Vincent’s Medical Center and office buildings were also built along Riverside Avenue. Some Riverside and Avondale’s historic buildings were demolished, and advocates fought for the neighborhoods to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.