Historic restoration, renovation, and new home construction in Historic Springfield, Jacksonville, Florida
Springfield is Jacksonville’s oldest suburb, actually named for a spring that once flowed near what is now West 4th Street. This neighborhood finally sprang to life with the arrival of streetcars, horse-drawn at first in 1879, and in 1893, Florida’s first electric streetcar that ran up Main Street from downtown.
When the Great Fire of 1901 leveled much of downtown Jacksonville, families moved north to Springfield and set off a building boom that filled the neighborhood with some of the finest nineteenth and early twentieth-century architecture in Northeast Florida. Among those who came to rebuild the city was architect Henry John Klutho, who introduced the Prairie School to the South and made Springfield his home.
Today, Springfield is a locally designated historic district in the middle of a long, hard-won revival, block by block and house by house.
AREA CONSIDERATIONS
Planning to build, renovate, or remodel a home in Springfield?
Springfield is part of the consolidated City of Jacksonville, so building permits, plan reviews, and inspections are handled by the city. It is also both a National Register and a locally designated Jacksonville historic district, which adds an important step in the building process.
Nearly all exterior work and new construction in the district requires an approved Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) before it can begin, in addition to your building permit. That includes roofs, windows, doors, siding, fences, driveways, and secondary structures.
Minor work can often be approved administratively by the City’s Historic Preservation Section, while larger projects, additions, new construction, and demolition go before the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission. The neighborhood follows the Springfield Design Guidelines, first formalized in 1992. At M&M Homes, we are experienced with the COA process and the district’s standards, and we build that review into the schedule from the beginning so it does not stall your project.
QUICK FACTS
- Named for a natural spring near present-day West 4th Street
- Home to Florida’s first electric streetcar line, running up Main Street in 1893
- Building boomed when many downtown families relocated after the Great Fire of 1901
- Longtime home of architect Henry John Klutho, who brought the Prairie School style to the South and built his own residence here in 1908
WHAT WE DO IN SPRINGFIELD
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
For exterior work, almost certainly yes. Springfield is a locally designated historic district, so an approved Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) is required before exterior alterations or new construction, including roofs, windows, siding, fences, driveways, and secondary structures. The COA is in addition to your building permit. Many minor changes can be approved administratively, while larger projects go before the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission. We handle the COA process for you.
Springfield is part of the consolidated City of Jacksonville, so building permits and inspections run through the city. For work in the historic district, the Certificate of Appropriateness review is conducted by the City’s Historic Preservation Section as a separate, additional approval.
No. The guidelines govern how exterior changes are done, not whether you can improve your home. Interiors generally fall outside the review, and thoughtful additions, replacement windows, and restoration work are regularly approved when they respect the home’s character and the Springfield Design Guidelines. We help you plan changes that will pass review and still fit how you want to live.
Yes, this is the heart of what we do. Springfield has one of the region’s great collections of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Prairie School homes, many well over a century old. That age usually means structural, roofing, and systems work, along with finish restoration, all done to meet the district’s standards. We assess the full scope honestly before any work begins.
Yes. Springfield still has scattered vacant and non-contributing lots, and new construction is allowed, but it must earn a Certificate of Appropriateness and fit the scale, rhythm, and character of the block under the Springfield Design Guidelines. We design new homes for the district that read as though they belong, and we manage the Commission review with you.
Timeline varies by scope, and the historic review adds some lead time. A focused interior renovation might take six to twelve weeks. A full renovation or new construction project typically runs six months to over a year, plus the Certificate of Appropriateness process, which for larger projects means a Commission hearing. We build a realistic schedule during the pre-construction phase and communicate proactively throughout.
In addition to Springfield, we work in Jacksonville’s other established historic neighborhoods, including Riverside, Avondale, and San Marco, along with the beach communities of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach, and Ponte Vedra. Our full service area covers Duval, St. Johns, Nassau, and Clay counties.
