Garden Street

When the British took control of Pensacola in 1763, one of the first steps they took was to survey the city. Elias Durnford established a city plan, creating garden plots or arpents, that corresponded to each residential lot in the town. Every family in Pensacola that owned a town plot also had 192 square feet of gardening space just north of town. The street that formed the border became known as Garden Street. Later, the garden plots were irrigated by use of canals which are still visible in this 1827 map.

Eventually, these garden plots turned into residential and commercial lots.

The Free Mason's fraternal organization constructed this building in 1899. The top two floors held meeting spaces and offices while the first floor served as rental retail space for a wide variety of businesses over the years. Today, this restored building is home to Vinyl Music Hall.