A late 1950’s view of the St. James Building as the Cohen Brothers department store. This Henry Klutho masterwork was completed Oct. 21, 1912 (making it 100 years old this year) and originally housed retail space on the lower floors and office space on the upper floors. It was the largest building in Jacksonville occupying an entire city block. The use of the building as a May Cohens department store ended in 1987 after several other May Cohens stores opened in shopping centers outside of downtown Jacksonville’s core. The building sat empty until it was purchased by the city, renovated and remodeled to function as Jacksonville’s City Hall building, reopening in 1998.
Tags: cars, Cohen Brothers, downtown, Duval Street, Henry Klutho, historic photographs, hogan street, May Cohens, shopping, St. James Building, vintage photography
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I worked as a graphic designer in the advertising department for May Cohens/May Company in this building until the closing in 1987. I had a third story office overlooking Church Street. Great memories. I miss the big downtown department stores!
I found some may cohen advertising layouts at a thrift store. Would you know any information on these?