Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Dedicated in 1912, this Italian Renaissance Revival building was designed under the direction of Treasury Department architect James Knox Taylor. The interior was custom built to accommodate the building’s three original functions as a United States customs house, courthouse, and post office. The building features a symmetrical facade, uniformly-arched windows and doors with terracotta accents, second floor windows with gabled pediments, decorative balustrades, and small square windows on the top floor. Brick walls faced with stucco rise from a granite base three stories to a tiled, hipped roof with widely extending eaves supported by decorative brackets. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida met here until the creation of the Middle District in 1962. The building was then used by the Middle District until divisional judicial functions were consolidated in Jacksonville. The building is a notable feature of the city's urban landscape, and is the second tallest structure, exceeded only by the Nassau County Courthouse’s clock tower. In 1973, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing resource in the Fernandina Beach Historic District.