100 East Government Street
Over one hundred years ago, this side of Government Street would have looked very different than it does today. Until the mid-1900s, Jefferson Street ran north from the wharf and ended here. Pensacola’s elaborate and celebrated Opera House stood on the southeastern corner. Across from the Opera House, where Jefferson Street now extends, stood a large three-story hotel.
The north side of this block, now housing the Seville Quarter complex, was home to numerous businesses. These buildings that were in such a fine and thriving neighborhood were built using cast iron components.
From the two story building on the eastern end of the block, Pfeiffer family members operated a house furnishings and crockery business and lived upstairs. The Pensacola Daily Journal operated out of this building as well.
By 1900, advances in technology leading to the development of steel as a building material made the use of cast iron obsolete. Coupled with the invention of the Otis safety elevator, steel skyscrapers began to outline American cities, including Pensacola.
These modern inventions did not prevent the Brosnaham brothers from using cast iron supports for the western most building in this row around 1910. Decorated with symbols that are very similar to the Trader Jon’s building at 511 South Palafox, these cast iron columns and lintels could have come from Chicago, Illinois as they bear a striking resemblance to the Dearborn Foundry Company’s Front number four.
