'Magnificent' Hotel Windsor played central role in Jacksonville's heydey as a tourist destination

The Hotel Windsor, the elegant Grand Dame of Jacksonville hotels, burned in the Great Fire of 1901. But its story didn't end there.

The three-story wooden structure, which faced then-Hemming Park, made its debut in 1875 when Jacksonville was a mecca for wealthy tourists. Its guest rooms were on the upper two floors while the first floor was occupied by offices, parlors, dining rooms and large sleeping apartments. It was enlarged in the early 1880s and several times in subsequent years.

In the 1870s and 1880s, Jacksonville attracted from 50,000 to 73,000 winter visitors each year, and the Windsor, the St. James and the Carlton House catered to them, a 1950 Times-Union story said. The Windsor also was opened to soldiers awaiting orders to Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Several organizations held their first meetings in the hotel's community rooms and on its sweeping colonnade. They included the Women's Club of Jacksonville in 1895, the Jacksonville Rotary Club in 1912 and the Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association in 1942.

May 3, 1901:Jacksonville devastated by a most destructive conflagration

Great Fire of 1901:Photos of the fire and its aftermath

The Windsor was destroyed in the 1901 fire and was the only one of the great ornate hotels that burned to be rebuilt. Owners Abbie Dodge and Frank Cullen erected a new hotel of brick, stone and steel in "magnificent Spanish Renaissance style to cover the entire block between Hogan, Monroe, Duval and Julia streets," the Times-Union reported in 1966. It featured birch and mahogany woodwork, grand columns and a red tile roof.

When it was completed in 1902, it played host to royalty, presidents and celebrities.

A brochure put out by the Windsor touted its unusual architecture, cozy nooks, balcony dining room, sun parlor and lobby with leather chairs, calling it one of Florida's finest hotels. It also cites the delightfully informal character of the building but says "only a stay at the Windsor can bring you a realization of the pleasure to be derived from a winter in sunny Florida. Our service is as nearly perfect as we can make it."

In one postcard view, an American flag is seen flying from its highest point.

The rebuilt Windsor lasted 48 years before it bowed to the wrecker's ball in 1950. The Times-Union said it had outlived its usefulness and was losing money. During demolition, a subterranean room filled with illegal whiskey was discovered.

In its final years, it had been the permanent residence of about 60 people, many retired. The Times-Union memorialized the Windsor as "one of the last tangible bits of evidence of an era when the city was a famous tourist resort."

Its razing sparked rumors that had been circulating for months that Macy's would build a department store on the site. (That didn't happen, and rumors have continued circulating that the New York chain would open a store in Jacksonville.)

Vintage photos:Dining, shopping in downtown Jacksonville’s heyday

The property became a parking lot for five years until J.C. Penney and Woolworth's built stores at 320 N. Hogan St. in 1955. The stores shared a common wall where one could walk from one to the other. Penney's and Woolworth's closed in the mid-1980s.

Meanwhile, the Robert Meyer Hotel, which opened in 1959, occupied the part of the block facing Julia Street. The Robert Meyer boasted a marble lobby, 563 guest rooms, restaurants, a jewelry store and an outdoor pool. It went bankrupt in 1977, reopened as the Holiday Inn City Center in 1980 and closed for good in 1982 due to lack of business. It was imploded in February 1998.

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The Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse, which opened in early 2003, now occupies the block.