Dade County FlArchives Biographies.....DAVIS, PHIL J. 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 June 30, 2012, 9:54 pm

Source: The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol.III   pg.54-5  1923
Author: The History of Florida:  Past & Present

	DAVIS, PHIL J.  As a general contractor, designer and builder PHIL J.  
DAVIS has probably handled the largest amount of distinctive and important 
work in the building program of Miami within last three years.  His record 
speaks for itself and offers remarkable evidence of his honest service, the 
efficiency he has put into his organization, and the thoroughness and speed 
with which he handles every contract, both large and small.  He has had more 
than a score of years of experience in the building industry, and he brings to 
his clients the technical skill of an architect as well as the motive power of 
the building contractor.
	Mr. DAVIS was born and reared in New York City, and in his education, 
he specialized in drafting.  As a youth he became an employee of a large New 
York construction concern, and for a time was a construction supervisor 
there.  For nearly five years Mr. DAVIS was located at Montréal, Canada, where 
he put up two handsome theaters and completed a total of building to the value 
of over $5,000,000.  Then for two and a half years he was again in New York, 
and in that city erected several large apartment houses.
	During the World war Mr. DAVIS was in the employ of the J.G. White 
Engineering Corporation as second in charge of the $13,500,000 powerhouse 
built for the Government in connection with the $100,000,000 construction 
enterprise involved in the Nitrate manufacturing project at Muscle Shoals.  He 
was on duty there as assistant superintendent of construction for about 
eighteen months, and the War Department gave him its official certificate of 
commendation for his efficiency and patriotism.
	In July, 1919, Mr. DAVIS came to Miami, and since then has developed 
an organization capable of doing the immense work required in the phenomenal 
development of this city.  He started here practically alone, and now has an 
organization with a weekly payroll of about $10,000.  His first building was 
the Afremow Block in Buena Vista.  Since then he has erected over three score 
commercial buildings and residences, and his business at Miami during 1921 
amounted to over $1,500,000.  Two buildings, each a landmark in Miami's 
commercial district completed in 1922, are the handsome buildings of the Moore 
Furniture Company and the Fairfax Theater.  The Moore Building was completed 
in ninety working days, and the Fairfax Theater in seventy-two days.  Mr. 
DAVIS has personally designed a number of the buildings he has erected in 
Miami, and the secret of his efficiency and economical handling of contracts 
is due to his personal attention to every detail of his business.  He has a 
large organization, practically in three departments, one for residence, one 
for jobbing and one for the larger class of commercial structures.  Among the 
many high-class residences and commercial structures credited to Mr. DAVIS in 
the Miami district are the Moore Furniture Company structure, Fairfax Theater, 
Granada Apartment, Clayton Building, Buena Vista Post Office, Claremont 
Apartments, F. J. Marion residence, Bradford Hotel, Helene Hotel, Marlborough 
Hotel, Studebaker Building, St. Regis Apartments, seven residences in Gold 
Court, Cadillac Building, five residences in Bryan Park, seven residences in 
Biltmore, Dixie Tea House, the Afremow Block, Buena Vista, the Afremow–Randall 
stores at Miami Beach.
	Mr. DAVIS has become an enthusiastic factor in the citizenship of 
Miami, is a member of the city's Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis Club and is a 
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and an Elk.  He married 
Miss SADIE B.  MACKLER, of New York, and their home is at 323 Northeast Twenty-
Seventh Street, old Goldcourt.  


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/dade/bios/davis41bs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/flfiles/

File size: 4.3 Kb