The Unknown Florida

We live in Midtown Tallahassee and an easy way, avoiding traffic, to ride your bicycle towards downtown is to take Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard south. That way, you can stay clear of busier streets like Thomasville Road and Monroe Street. Initially, you ride for about a mile or two through the quiet Levy Park neighborhood with many oak trees, old and typically modest single family homes. Then you reach the historic Oakland Cemetery, which is known for the Phillips Mausoleum, built by and for the eccentric architect Calvin C. Phillips in the early 20th century. I am not aware of other buildings designed by him left standing in Tallahassee. His residence on Macomb Street, including a watchtower, was torn down in the 1980s. After traversing the cemetery, which feels sometimes spooky at night with the mausoleum and other white headstones (see the photo below) and plenty of Spanish moss, you are entering Frenchtown, a predominantly black neighborhood with a lot of history. For example, a boy named Ray Charles lived there in the early 1940s.

Frenchtown got its name from French immigrants settling there in the early 19th century to grow grapes and later pines. After the Civil War, freed slaves moved in and it became it the oldest black neighborhood in the state of Florida today. As many places, Frenchtown had its ups and downs. It became a crime and drug-ridden slum in the 1960s. However, it is currently going through a revitalization or, as some residents might say, gentrification on its southern border close to Florida State University. Going further south on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, crossing West Tennessee Street, passing the historic Old City Cemetery, where the (somewhat) famous French-American royalty Prince Murat and his wife Catherine are buried, you finally reach Gaines Street.

From that intersection you have an excellent view on one of the more interesting modern buildings in Tallahassee: The Turlington Building that houses the Florida Department of Education (the full name is actually Ralph D. Turlington Florida Education Center). It is an 18-story building constructed over a three-year period and completed in 1989, named after former Education Commissioner Ralph Turlington. What makes it interesting is its shape and white-metalic (alucobond) exterior. While during the daytime the building is interesting but not spectacular: You have a white colossus in front of the bright Florida sky, effectively blurring its sharp edges. However, the building starts to shine at night when you get a sharp contrast between the white exterior and the dark night sky. That brings the sharp edges of the building into focus, providing a unique look (see photo below). This perspective explains why the building is nicknamed The Razor. If you take a more cynical point of view, you might also think of a gigantic white headstone (like in the Graveyard of Education). Anyway… The building looks good at night.