JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — The CEO of the Jacksonville Historical Society said he was disappointed to see the building housing the former Moulton and Kyle Funeral Home burned down Saturday, but he said he wasn't surprised.
CEO Alan Bliss said the building, that was more than a century old, was on the Society's list of endangered historic structures in Jacksonville in 2020. Bliss said there are a few reasons a building could qualify as endangered.
First, if there's a development plan for a piece of property where a historic building stands.
"That development plan can be either crafted to preserve and enhance and maybe exploit that historic building," Bliss said.
"But as often as not, the development plans or redevelopment plans call for demolition," he said. “Probably the most famous example in the past year or two was the old city of Jacksonville Fire Station Number Five on Riverside Avenue. It had been abandoned and vacant, for golly, well over a decade," he said.
"We knew that it was at risk from redevelopment plans. We had it on our endangered buildings list because we knew that that was one of the threats. And, indeed, the building was demolished to make way for redevelopment," Bliss said.
Bliss said another reason the Society may consider a building a threat is because it's entering a "period of economic obsolescence," meaning it's no longer usable for its original purposes.
"Probably one of the most obvious examples of that right now is the JEA headquarters tower downtown on North Main Street. The building is still functional. It's still in use every day, but JEA is building a new headquarters for itself, and they intend to move out of the old tower," Bliss said.
"That puts the future of that building in some jeopardy. Certainly, at least it makes it an open question as to whether or not it will survive, and in what kind of use or application," he said.
Another reason they'd deem a building endangered is because it is abandoned and/or neglected, in the former Moulton & Kyle Funeral Home's case.
"It's an example of a building that through benign neglect becomes a greater risk. Under responsible ownership, there would be measures taken to protect, inspect a building, assess it regularly for risks and hazards. That does not seem to be happening with the old Moulton and Kyle building," Bliss said.
"Just because it is unused doesn't mean that you can turn your back on it. There have to be steps taken to secure these buildings and to monitor their condition and protect them, and so that you've got an asset that can be defended against threats," he said.
"We don't really know what the precipitating cause was of the fire, but the fact that it was in a state of some abandonment and neglect, even if that was just benign neglect, that puts a building like Moulton and Kyle at risk as it would any other building," he said.
Bliss also said he realizes it's not possible to save every building, and not every building deserves to be saved, but all historical landmarks in the city have significance.
"We at the Historical Society, we think that historic, the historic fabric of the city, which means it's a mature built environment, is part of what gives authenticity to the place and adds economic value to the city because it makes it a distinctive destination. You're in downtown Jacksonville. You're not just any place else," Bliss said.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry tweeted Sunday morning that city code enforcement found safety and structural concerns at the scene of the fire.