More than fifty years after it opened, Riverplace Tower remains a prominent figure in Jacksonville’s skyline.

The building’s story begins in the mid-1960s, when locally-based Gulf Life Insurance Company sought to expand beyond its existing office space along Hogan Street. The city was in the midst of a development boom that included the construction of a new library, city hall building, and courthouse, and companies were eager to get in on the boom while they could. Gulf Life set its sights on a piece of property along the Southbank, and construction began on its new 28-story office tower in 1966.