Lift Evr’y Voice and Sing Park represents an opportunity to commemorate The Black National Anthem, celebrate the heritage and success of the once-segregated La Villa neighborhood in Jacksonville, and create a new park for the everyday and mundane, as well as community gatherings, events, and celebrations.
The conceptual approach of the park begins by tracing the plots of the homes, businesses and yards that once existed here when La Villa was a thriving Black neighborhood. It is within this stretch of land that the Johnson Brothers’ home stood and where they grew up. These traces are interpreted as paved bands throughout the park, from which new gardens, lawns, and gathering spaces emerge. The park is comprised of five main organizational elements:
The Emerald Trail & Lee Street
Running along the eastern edge of the park is the Emerald Trail, an urban scale, multi-use path that accommodates pedestrians and cyclists. The trail makes a direct connection to the historic train station, an important feature in the cultural landscape of La Villa and all other Southern cities to African Americans.
Gardens
Emerging from the frames are a series of connected, planted spaces, primarily located on the southern end of the park. The planting design draws inspiration from the beauty of the embowered, overgrown, vacant lot that is carefully cultivated by human touch. The gardens frame a series of “rooms” – places for solitude, daily life, and small gatherings. Located in the southeast corner of the garden is the sculpture “Getting it Done” by Brian Owens.
The Megaphone
Shotgun House and Stage
The centerpoint of the park sits a restored, historic La Villa home – a vessel of the past – the only vestige of African American domestic memory in La Villa. To reference the intention to protect this cultural history, three glass walls surround the house, sealing the memory in, while also providing a canvas for quotes and imagery. Projecting from the side of the shotgun house is a stage that allows for a variety of performances or simply sitting on the porch – part of everyday life. This structure, combined with the House comprises The Megaphone: broadcasting the stories of the lives of those who once lived in this place.
Lifted Lawn
Facing the stage and shotgun is the lifted lawn, which rises up to have a dialogue with the Megaphone. This grassy area will be used just as much for the day-to-day of neighbors as it will for larger performances. From the apex of the lawn, one can look out over the park, surveying the land of the once-thriving community that stood here.
Lift Ev’ry Voice Plaza
Sculpture & Terrace
Acting as the gateway on the North of the Park, the Plaza is comprised of a palm grid, with a backdrop of a large sculpture, spelling out the words “Lift Evry Voice and Sing”. This sculpture, made of tabby concrete – a shell-based, historic building material often made by enslaved people – literally supports the Lifted Lawn. Emanating from the base of the letters is a mist fountain – creating an ethereal fog from which the sculpture emerges. This fountain creates a dynamic environment that changes with the wind and times of day and seasons.
