Site of Jacksonville's deadliest fire since 1901: 22 people killed on December 29, 1963, when smoke filled the 13-story Hotel Roosevelt during Gator Bowl weekend
31 W Adams St, Jacksonville, FL 32202
Research updated June 2026
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Exterior drive-by or walk-by only; private residential building
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Est. 1926 · Jacksonville's Deadliest Fire Since 1901 · National Register of Historic Places · 1963 Gator Bowl Weekend Disaster
The Hotel Roosevelt opened in 1926 as a 300-room, 13-story downtown hotel at Adams Street near Main Street in Jacksonville. It operated as a full-service hotel through the mid-twentieth century, hosting sporting events, conventions, and Gator Bowl weekend visitors.
On the morning of December 29, 1963, doorman Alton Joseph Crowden first noticed smoke and alerted the Jacksonville Fire Department. The fire had started in the ballroom's ceiling — the old plaster ceiling had never been removed when a new one was installed, creating a hidden void packed with combustible material. Smoke spread rapidly upward through the building's vertical shafts, filling guest rooms while most occupants slept.
The fire was extinguished by approximately 9:30 AM. Firefighters found twenty guests dead in their rooms from carbon monoxide poisoning, still in bed. A woman died attempting to climb to safety from the 11th floor using bedsheets tied as a rope. Assistant Fire Chief J.R. Romedy collapsed from a heart attack while directing rescue operations and died at the scene. The 22 deaths made it the worst single-day death toll in Jacksonville history since the Great Fire of 1901.
U.S. Navy helicopters from Cecil Field and NAS Jacksonville assisted in rescue operations, and Mayor W. Haydon Burns formally requested military support. Approximately 475 people were evacuated. Survivors included 1964 Miss America Donna Axum and several sports figures in town for the Gator Bowl.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in February 1991. Following extensive renovation, it now operates as The Carling, upscale residential apartments.
Sources
The Hotel Roosevelt fire produced no documented paranormal narrative. The building's place in this record is as a true crime and disaster history site: the location of the deadliest fire in Jacksonville's modern history, a preventable tragedy caused by faulty wiring and a construction shortcut — an old ceiling left in place when a new one was installed, creating a hidden fuel source.
The 22 who died were overwhelmingly guests who never woke up. They were killed by smoke and carbon monoxide while asleep in their beds on the Friday of Gator Bowl weekend, unaware the building was burning below them. The fire's cause and the death toll were documented by the Jacksonville Fire Department and extensively covered by First Coast News and regional press at the time and in subsequent anniversary coverage.
The 13-story Carling building stands at Adams and Laura Streets in downtown Jacksonville. The NRHP-listed structure is visible from the sidewalk. The building now operates as residential apartments. No interior public access.
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