Category: Jacksonville, Florida

We’re back at Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville, Florida, designed by Joseph Amisano of Atlanta and opened in 1967. The shopping center is currently being demolished.

This postcard depicts the mall’s original center court, and if the photographer wanted it to look as dead and dreary as possible, they certainly succeeded.

No one in the picture appears younger than 60, and the frail woman plopped on the bench with her walker doesn’t exactly suggest a hip, happening place. More like a displaced hip.

Even the plants look despondent.

The postcard was published by Marsh Post Card Service of Jacksonville, and contained the following description on the back:

REGENCY SQUARE

The largest Air Conditioned shopping Mall in the southeast, featuring over 50 stores, located in Jacksonville, Florida. On State Rd. 10 at Alt. U.S. 1. Color by C.L. Marsh.

The card was postmarked in Jacksonville in February 1969 and addressed to Scott in Binghamton, New York, with this note:

“We go here a LoT

Hi: How are You? How are all the statues? Did Stacey get them? I want to see them when I get home. Mommy sent
your report card marks. How much do I owe you? I want-you to figure iT up for me + put note in Money Mommy’s letter.

80-55-5¢ 90-95-15¢.
85-90-10¢ 95-100 20¢

figure for 20 weeks + test marks

Love Grandma + Grandpa

Literally everything about the note is capitalistic and gross: Shopping was apparently Grandma + Grandpa’s pastime, their idea of love tied cash to Scott’s academic performance, and they accidentally called Mommy “Money.” Ick.

I bet Scott grew up to be a corporate wage slave, and I’m sure Stacey’s statues were awful.

The postcard pictured here depicts the interior of the Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville, Florida, designed by Joseph Amisano of Toombs, Amisano & Wells of Atlanta.^{1 2}

Regency Square opened in March 1967 as “the Southeast’s largest enclosed mall-type shopping center,”³ surpassing Atlanta’s Greenbriar Mall,⁴ which opened in 1965.⁵

Location of Regency Square Mall

I generally admire Amisano’s work, but judging from this photograph, the mall’s interior was hideous, even for the 1960s: dull brick, drab tile flooring, and a color scheme evocative of urine.

If you look closely, you can see the mall’s centerpiece: an “inverted fountain” that was touted as “novel” when the center opened.⁶ I’ll take their word for it.

I’m more interested in the well-tailored bitch glaring icily at the photographer. If looks could kill, darlin’.

This undated postcard was published by the Duval News Company of Jacksonville, and included the following description on the back:

THE AIR-CONDITIONED MALL
REGENCY SQUARE SHOPPING CENTER
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

Amisano was undoubtedly hired to design Regency Square because of his work on Lenox Square in Atlanta, which was touted as the largest shopping center in the Southeast at its opening,⁷ a title it still claimed in 1966,⁸ although it wasn’t enclosed until 1973.⁹

Lenox still survives—and thrives—as an Atlanta retail institution, but Regency Square hasn’t fared so well in Jacksonville. After years of steady decline, demolition of the mall began in September 2026.^{10 11}

Another mall bites the dust.

References

1. Erxleben, Al. “Huge $12 Million Shopping Mall Slated on Arlington Expressway”. The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), August 17, 1965, p. 1. ↩︎
2. “Shopping Mall Ceremony Set”. Jacksonville Journal (Jacksonville, Florida), January 4, 1966, p. 15. ↩︎
3. “Regency Square At a Glance”. The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), March 1, 1967, p. R-29. ↩︎
4. “Carillon Bells to Toll Holiday Season”. The Atlanta Constitution, November 23, 1966, p. 19. ↩︎
5. The Atlanta Constitution, September 23, 1965, Greenbriar Section G. ↩︎
6. “All Roads Lead To Regency Square…” The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), March 1, 1967, p. R-2. ↩︎
7. Moore, Charles. “Lenox Square–City Within City”. The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, August 2, 1959, p. 1-C. ↩︎
8. Wells, Frank. “Atlanta Speaks—U.S. Listens”. The Atlanta Constitution, November 14, 1966, p. 8. ↩︎
9. The Atlanta Journal, January 17, 1973, Lenox Square Section ↩︎
10. Regency Square Mall demolition erases 60 years of shopping – jacksonville.com | The Florida Times-Union ↩︎
11. Demolition begins on Regency Square Mall | Jacksonville Today ↩︎