Haydon Burns Library, Public library in downtown Jacksonville, Florida.
Haydon Burns Library is a three-story, 126,000 sq ft building in downtown Jacksonville designed by Taylor Hardwick. Its exterior walls facing Ocean and Adams streets have 88 fins from the second floor to the roof, like piano keys, catching wind and casting shadows to cool the building. The ground floor has floor-to-ceiling windows, and the central elevator tower walls are covered with murals of 10,000 glazed bricks.
Architect Taylor Hardwick designed the building in 1965 to replace the older Carnegie Library from 1905. This new construction represented a shift toward modern library design for the city.
The walls around the central elevator tower carry murals of 10,000 glazed bricks in cheerful colors, part of Taylor Hardwick's five-year design plan that also fixed the furnishings and graphics. The building is named for W. Haydon Burns, Jacksonville's mayor for fifteen years and Florida's governor for two. Since 2013 it has housed the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and other nonprofits.
The building now operates as the Jessie Ball duPont Center, a nonprofit complex, so it is not closed. The ground floor's floor-to-ceiling windows on Ocean and Adams streets let pedestrians see inside. The 88 fins on the Ocean and Adams facades run from the second floor to the roof.
The exterior walls facing Ocean and Adams streets carry 88 fins running from the second floor to the roof, one for each key on a piano. They catch the wind and cast shadows that help keep the building cool.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,608 contributors worldwide.
