010. The Armory Building
Historic Marker Number 10 is located at 600 White Street on the corner of White and Southard Streets.The armory was built to support military training and readiness of local military reserves. In 1877, the 'Key West Rifles', a voluntary military company, organized with 80 members. It was not very professional, and after the fire of 1886 destroyed all of its equipment, it ceased to exist. In 1888, a 32-member company named the 'Island City Guards' was organized, which would eventually become Company 1, Second Regiment of Infantry, Florida State Troops. It is now part of the National Guard.Land for an armory was purchased by Monroe County in 1901. The armory was designed by T. F. Russell and built in 1901 by John T. Sawyer. In 1903, upon a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court, the state of Florida refunded the cost to the county and took ownership. Originally built between 1901 and 1903 as an Armory and drill hall for the state militia of Florida. The Armory was described as 'an unusual wood-frame building' and was one of the few built in the South after the Civil War. The building is Italianate-style incorporating an arched entrance, twin, six-sided pointed turrets, a tall parapet as well as towers and cupolas.The Armory was built for the descendants of the Key West Riffles and the Island City Guards, known as the Monroe County Militia/438th Company Florida National Guard. It housed these troops and their armament. It served as a training center in WWI and WWII and then became a community center.In 1971, it was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places.
102. Saw Tooth Architecture
Historic Marker Number 102 is located at 924 Southard Street between Grinnell and Margaret streets.This house hides a secret when looking at it from the street. It looks like many of the homes and cottages with metal gable roofs you see throughout the Key West Historic District. Attached to the backside of the structure are house additions that have clues to the original building size, the growing space needs of its owners, and more importantly, the lack of fresh water sources on the island during the 1800s.Many homes started out as one and two room cottages due to a lack of building materials, shortage of skilled labor and scarcity of dwellings for the island's burgeoning population in the latter half of the 1800s.As families grew and prospered, additional living space was needed. Small additions were added to the backside of the home as needed. Today it is common to see anywhere from two to four of these additions on the back of a house.Each of the additions has metal-clad gable roofs that seem to defy standard roofing logic. Roofs are traditionally designed to shed rainwater away from the structure. The building additions’ multiple gable roofs run parallel to the main house gable roof and connect with each other at the lowest point creating roof valleys. The purpose of the roof valley was to collect rainwater and guide it to gutters that funneled the fresh water into ground level cisterns. When the number of gabled additions increased, the surface of the new metal roof collected an additional amount of water for the cistern.Cisterns often were the sole source of water throughout the 1800s. In 1912, a reliable source of water from the mainland was supplied through pipes that were constructed along Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway.These multiple gable roofed homes are called saw tooth homes because the profile of the roof peaks and valleys resemble the metal teeth of a hand saw blade.
101. Eyebrow House Architecture
Historic Marker Number 101 is located at 906 Southard Street between William and Elizabeth streets.You are looking at a Key West ‘eyebrow house’. An eyebrow house is a style of architecture, which is unique to the Florida Keys and the Caribbean Islands.In architecture, the windows of a building are often referred to as the ‘eyes’ of the structure. Eyebrow houses got their name due to the overhanging porch roof that partially obscures the second floor windows and protects them from direct sunlight, keeping the house much cooler than it otherwise would have been.The design had its origins in the living conditions of Key West’s sub-tropical climate. Long before electricity was available for fans or residential air conditioning had yet to be invented, this design was part of a high tech cooling system that blocked the sun and took advantage of the cool breezes from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.Along with the covered windows, eyebrow houses used cooling techniques based on the knowledge that cool air settles and hot air rises. As a result, the house has features such as a raised foundation on blocks or piers to facilitate air circulating beneath the house. Eyebrow houses also have double hung windows made up of an upper and lower sash throughout the entire house. On the first floor, the lower sash of windows were opened to let cooler air into the house and on the upper floor, the upper sash of the windows opened a pathway for escaping hot air. The circulation of cooler air throughout the homes could drop the overall temperature of the building by 5 to 10 degrees.Another element of eyebrow houses was their wide front porches. The shaded area was a great space to catch a breeze and enjoy an indoor/outdoor living style.
099. Metal Roofs
Historic Marker Number 99 is located at 718 Southard Street between William and Elizabeth streets.Roofs in the historic district are predominantly sheathed with metal. The silver metal roofing material is not a style or a fad left over from the 1800s, but a practical response to a real problem. Key West started out as an industrial city where wooden structures were erected in close quarters. Roofs were made of wooden shakes, which were a readily available material as well as being cost efficient. Unfortunately, they were also highly flammable.With nothing but dry wooden structures in front of it, the Great Fire of 1886 consumed two-thirds of Key West’s buildings (see Historic Marker #28).In an effort to prevent future fires, the city required metal roofs on new and replacement buildings in what is now the island’s Historic District. There are four main styles of metal roofs commonly seen in Key West. There are roofs with metal shingles were 6"x6"squares of galvanized steel stamped with a raised pattern that were hooked together and nailed at the edges. Roofs with 4'x6' sheets of metal that are stamped to resemble metal shingle roofing are also common. The panels were overlapped and secured by nails with a lead washer to seal the nail hole. Another style of metal roofing in the Historic District is two-foot wide, flat galvanized panels that run from the roof ridge to the eave end of the roof. The panels overlap and are secured to the roof with screws and rubber washers. A relatively modern steel protection treatment is coating galvanized metal with an additional coating of aluminum. This process is called galvalume.While metal roofing is more expensive than wooden shakes, it has a number of advantages. Property insurance costs were reduced on buildings with metal clad roofs due to their fire resistance and indirect advantage of acting as a fire barrier for interior fires. The most significant advantage is the cooling effects the light-colored material has in Key West's subtropical climate. When sunlight and ultraviolet light shine on the silvered metal roofs, much of it is reflected and passes back through the atmosphere into space. Light colored metal roof buildings are, on average, 15% cooler than structures with dark roofs. Metal roofs also hold up well in hurricanes and have a 60 year lifespan if properly maintained.
103. Shotgun House
Historic Marker Number 103 is located at 525 Elizabeth Street between Fleming and Southard streets.It is believed that the term ‘shotgun house’ comes from the ability to fire a shotgun blast through the front door and cleanly out the back door without hitting the house itself. In the 1880s, shotgun homes became popular in Key West for three reasons.First, the long, narrow, one room wide building style was well suited for the narrow lots of the small, one-by-three mile wide island.Second, Key West has always been short on housing supply. The relatively small, one-story houses were easy to build and could be accomplished with the limited local building materials of the nineteenth century. Everything needed to build a home had to be shipped by sailboat from the U.S. mainland or the Bahamas. It was common to use ‘single ply’ construction due to material shortages. Single ply refers to attaching siding and a roof to the frame of the house but excluding inner walls or ceilings. The building practice is also referred to as open stud construction.The third reason hides inside or just behind houses along the streets of the Historic District. Shotgun structures were easy to expand as space needs grew or your prosperity increased. Often due to the limitations of small lot sizes, original shotgun structures have been swallowed by the larger, newer structure. Cigar factory owners constructed many of the homes scattered throughout Key West’s Historic District as worker housing during the heyday of the cigar industry in 1890. Locally they are fondly referred to as ‘cigar maker's cottages’. For more on cigar makers and where they lived, please see Historic Marker #20.It was not uncommon for families of six or more to raise their children in the cramped quarters; however almost any form of housing in the nineteenth century was a prized commodity.
104. Dade County Pine
Historic Marker Number 104 is located at 804 Caroline Street between Margaret and William streets.It can be said that the building foundation of Key West was built on Dade County Pine. Dade County Pine is a highly prized old growth lumber that was the primary source of wood used to build most of the wooden structures in Key West’s Historic District. It is best known for its ability to withstand rotting conditions and stand up to termite damage.Dade County Pine was used for every aspect of a structures’ construction. Inspect any old house in the Historic District and you will find Dade County Pine was used to construct floors, walls, ceilings, framing, windows, doors, trim, stairs and support beams.The ‘Dade County’ name is somewhat of a misleading term for all of the pine used to build the city. Much of the lumber used in the construction of Key West was harvested outside of Dade County, Florida. Somehow, the name became synonymous with all Longleaf Southern Yellow Pine. Dade County Pine, a subspecies of Longleaf Southern Yellow Pine, comes from the ‘heart’ of the tree and is a favored construction material wood because it is strong, dense and highly resistant to decay and insect damage.The strength of this old growth lumber comes from a weather phenomenon found along land abutting large bodies of salt water. Salt laden spray and mist travels inland on a daily basis. The salt particles coat vegetation and tend to retard growth. Trees growing along shorelines up to five miles inland from salt water tend to grow at a slower rate. The long-term result of this slower growth in trees is the formation of tighter growth rings with less sapwood in between. Sapwood is the softer living parts of the tree were sap flows. Tighter growth rings give the wood its strength and less sapwood greatly reduces the food that insects thrive on.In the 1800s, Dade County Pine was harvested from the Florida Everglades, the western shores of Florida, and as far north as the Gulf shores of Georgia and Alabama. Wood mills were built on lumber harvesting sites and fleets of sailing ships laden with fresh-cut logs headed to Florida Territorial cities like Key West. Sadly, old growth Dade County Pine was over overharvested and is no longer available except from salvage operations.Modern construction material’s wood equivalent is grown in tree farms and is inferior to the slow growth lumber from the past. Today the emphasis is on growing trees quickly for more frequent harvests leaving the end product with less growth rings and an excess of soft sapwood.
084. Old City Hall
Historic Marker Number 84 is located at 510 Greene Street between Duval & Simonton streets. There is no marker on this building. Refer to the large Florida State marker for additional information.In the 1830s, the land that this building stands on was under salt water. There was a sliver of salt ponds that ran through the center of what is now Key West’s business district. It submerged low-lying land from the Historic Seaport, across Duval Street and ended at Whitehead Street.The Havana Hurricane of 1846 closed the pond off from the Seaport through a buildup of silt and sand. The salt pond became a stagnant body of water that was the ideal breeding ground for mosquitos. Eventually the city filled the pond and brought the land up to its current level.The City of Key West acquired this lot in 1871 and built a wood frame city hall, dedicating it on July 4, 1876, during the nation's Centennial. That building stood until it burned down in the devastating fire of 1886.
111. Coast Guard Headquarters
Historic Marker Number 111 is located at the corner of Whitehead and Front streets.Construction of this imposing brick structure began in 1856 and was completed in 1861. Even though the present day building is identified as the Coast Guard Headquarters, it began as the United States Navy Coal Depot & Storehouse, Building #1. The historic functions of the building were defense, commerce, trade, warehouse and naval administration until 1932. During the Civil War, the Union’s East Coast Blockading Squadron was headquartered here. The blockade is credited with shortening the Civil War and saving countless numbers of soldiers on both sides of the conflict.One of the structures greatest assets, in the 1800s, was as a coal depot. The U.S. Navy began to convert its fleet from sailing ships to steam powered vessels in the 1840s. Sail transportation was quickly outmoded as the reliability of steam engines improved and iron hulled, screw-propelled ships were developed. Steel-hulled ships could be built substantially larger and longer than their wooden counterparts could. The only downside of a steamship was the need for large amounts of coal to keep the boiler furnaces stoked.Key West was a strategic coaling location for steamships embarking on Trans-Atlantic, Caribbean, or South America voyages as evidenced by the numerous coal sheds lining the harbor in the mid-1800s.Initially, coal was shoveled into bins and pushed along piers to waiting steam ships where it was shoveled onboard. As the need for coal increased, it was moved from shoreline storage facilities on large aerial conveyor belts to a coal transfer station suspended over the harbor waters. Ships were able to transfer coal from the harbor station quicker and with less manual labor.The second floor of the navy building was reserved for sail makers. As the use of steamboats made inroads into traditional sail powered ships, the need for a good sail remained. The irony of many of the early steamboats is that they were outfitted with rigging and sails to augment steam power and as a safeguard in the advent that steam propulsion failed.In 1932, the offices of the 7th Lighthouse District opened in this building. Their duties included overseeing Florida Keys lighthouses, light ships and channel markers. By 1939, the U.S .Coast Guard changed the name of the building from the Naval Coal Depot to the Coast Guard Headquarters to depict their use of the building.The Coast Guard Headquarters building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and remains Key West’s oldest brick structure.
118. Masonic Temple
Historic Marker Number 118 is located at 533 Eaton Street between Simonton and Duval streets.This Masonic Temple structure was built by the Dade Lodge #14 Chapter of Freemasons as their meeting hall and lodge. The first temple structure on this site dates back to the 1870s was a two and a half story wooden commercial building. Its choice of building material and architectural style were a good match with many of the buildings we see today in Key West’s Historic District of 3,000 frame vernacular buildings. The ground floor was used for commercial businesses with the second floor reserved for Mason’s meetings.In 1949, the Masons reached out to Miami architect Henry Hohauser to design a new lodge. Hohauser is considered to be the guiding light of Miami Beach’s Art Deco Architectural District. The Masons wanted a futuristic design that could grow as their need for space increased. Hohauser's design for the building was solidly based in a relatively new architectural style called Streamline Moderne. The architectural style first surfaced after the Great Depression and became increasingly popular after World War II. Streamline Moderne was a stark reaction to Victorian building ornamentation that was the predominant building style for decades. The new style embraced simple lines and aerodynamic curves.The lodge was built as a two-story structure that was constructed to support a third floor. A third floor was added at a later date and, like the original lodge, the first floor was used for commercial businesses. The second and third floors were used for fraternal meetings and made space for a large auditorium. This is the only Hohauser designed building in Key West and, architecturally, is a one-of-a-kind building.In 2013, the Masonic Temple was purchased by the Studios of Key West and is used as a community arts center and performance space.
120. William Kerr House
Historic Marker Number 120 is located at 410 Simonton Street between Fleming and Southard streets.This exquisite building was the private residence of William Kerr, a renowned Irish-American architect. Born in Ireland in 1836 and educated in Boston, Massachusetts, he moved to Key West in 1872, where he worked as an architect, contractor and builder. He built his Carpenter Gothic style cottage at 410 Simonton Street, but his most recognizable works are the Convent of Mary Immaculate built in 1878, and the Old Post Office and Custom House (see Historic Marker #71).Carpenter Gothic is a North American architectural style known for its use of Gothic Revival architectural detailing applied to traditional light-frame construction. Often these buildings were built by house-carpenters. The abundance of North American timber and the carpenter-built wood vernacular architecture so prevalent in Key West’s Historic District was a perfect backdrop for William Kerr’s picturesque improvisation of traditional Gothic architecture on this house. The style freed house-carpenters to improvise and emphasize the charm and quaintness of what otherwise would have been a simple wooden building.The invention of horse-powered scroll saws, and later improved steam powered saws, made mass-produced wood moldings readily available to builders adding gothic inspired embellishments to their projects. Carpenter Gothic architecture primarily became popular in the latter half of the nineteenth century for homes and small churches. Probably the best-known example of Carpenter Gothic is the house that artist Grant Wood used for the background of his famous painting American Gothic.An interesting artifact attributed to William Kerr’s profession surfaced during a recent restoration of the house. Carpenters uncovered a small cardboard carrying case nestled in a cavity of the floor joists of the second floor. Upon closer examination, the case revealed an ink draftsman’s pen. The pen is believed to have slipped out of Kerr's pocket and was inadvertently floored over during the 1875 construction of the house.
107. Monroe County Historic Jail
Historic Marker Number 107 is located on the corner of Whitehead and Fleming streets, situated behind the Jefferson B. Browne building.The jail was completed in 1892 and had been specifically designed to mimic the neighboring Monroe County Courthouse, completed just two years earlier. Both the jail and courthouse were considered impressive civic accomplishments and symbols of Monroe County’s position as the most populous city in Florida at that time with the U.S. Census showing more than 18,000 citizens in Key West.The 1892 jail was the fifth jail built at the historic Jackson Square. In 1907, a 10-foot high concrete wall was built around the jail and in 1910 the jail was expanded to increase capacity with a two-story concrete cell block.In 1952, the front of the old jail was demolished and replaced with a new jail and office for the Monroe County Sheriff. In 1965, the sheriff’s office was replaced with a courthouse annex. This annex was expanded in the 1980s. At that time, the north section of the 1907 wall was removed. Today, only the rear portion of the 1892 building remains, along with the entire 1910 addition and the 1910 cell block.
106. Monroe County Courthouse
Historic Marker Number 106 is located at 500 Whitehead Street between Fleming and Southard streets.The red brick Monroe County Courthouse, built in a traditional county courthouse style, was completed in 1890. Its 100- foot clock tower is an architectural feature that can be observed from almost any part of Key West. In the early days of Key West, auctions for cargoes of wrecked ships were held on the courthouse steps.
113. St. Stevens AME Zion Church
Historic Marker Number 113 is located at 330 Julia Street on the corner of Whitehead and Julia streets.St. Stephen AME Zion Church is one of a handful of African Methodist Episcopal churches in Bahama Village. It is named for Saint Stephen who is recognized as the first Christian martyr. He was tasked by the Apostles to distribute food and care to the poor of the early church. His beliefs and speeches concerning what he saw as injustices of the church’s distribution of wealth to its poor and widowed parishioners led to his death and martyrdom. He was condemned by the church and stoned to death. He is the patron saint of the poor and most interestingly, masons.The church structure is built from locally quarried limestone and coral rock. Parishioners, carpenters and members of the Black Mason’s Lodge, began church construction in 1900. They added the steeple to the structure in 1920. The exposed open beam and plank roof structure is evident when viewed from the interior of the structure.Key West has been tested by the Great Fire of 1886, numerous hurricanes and the ravages of a subtropical climate. Stone construction has proved to have many advantages of withstanding these dangers throughout the island’s 200 year history.It is a testament to the parishioners of Saint Stevens AME Zion Church that this is a stone structure surrounded by 3,000 wooden buildings that make up the largest wood vernacular Historic District in the United States.Saint Stephens was closed as a place of worship in 1979. Since then it has gone through a series of uses ranging from office space to residential use and is currently an art gallery open to the public.
105. Key West City Hall
Historic Marker Number 105 is located at 1300 White Street on the corner of United Street.Built in 1923 as the Monroe County High School, the school served for 90 years as a high school, middle school and elementary school.Key West City Hall was originally constructed as Monroe County High School. The front building and auditorium were completed in September 1923. The rear gymnasium building was completed in 1927. Over the next 90 years, the school served as a high school, middle school, and finally as an elementary school named after Glynn Archer, a long-serving local educator.In 2014, an agreement was made between the Monroe County School Board and the City of Key West to turn the building over to the City for adaptive reuse as a new City Hall. The work began with demolition of a deteriorated rear wing of the school constructed in the 1950s along with all of the interior walls, floors, and roof on the original structure. Great care was taken to support and protect the exterior facade of the school.In 2015, construction began on the new City Hall. The building is designed as a completely new interior structure built within the historic outer walls of the 1920s school building. The historic auditorium serves as commission chambers with the rest of the building as office space for the City’s many departments and personnel.Many of the structure’s original elements were repurposed during the reconstruction of the building including trusses from the original roof structure and Dade County heart pine wood. The new adaptive use building was designed to meet modern building and hurricane codes. Most importantly, the project is highly energy efficient structure - it was awarded the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard recognition.
