Can You Spot a Skinner's Dairy Building?

Those butterfly-shaped buildings represent a long gone approach to selling dairy products in Northeast Florida.

By Bill Delaney / Photography By Cole LoCurto | May 31, 2022

Canal St. Chicken and Seafood is located in the Westside Jacksonville neighborhood of Hyde Park.

In the 1950s, Skinner’s Dairy of Jacksonville needed a new way to bring fresh local milk to their customers. To that end, they established a chain of drive-through “milk houses” in residential neighborhoods across Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Clay County to sell milk and convenience items. Renowned architect Taylor Hardwick designed the structures with a distinctive winged roof to make them easily identifiable wherever they stood. Skinner’s Dairy and its milk houses closed in 1995 and the old farmland gave way to suburban sprawl. For structures built with such a specific purpose, the milk houses have proven quite adaptable for new uses. More than 20 still survive today, housing a wide variety of businesses including eateries, a car dealership, a truck accessories store, a florist and even a golf equipment shop. Here’s a look at a few businesses that have made their homes in former Skinner’s Dairy shops.

ST. JOHNS FLOWER MARKET, 4015 St Johns Ave, Jacksonville
Since 1992, this local florist has resided in a former Skinner’s Dairy on St. Johns Avenue that once served Jacksonville’s Avondale and Fairfax neighborhoods. During business hours their flowers and arrangements are on full display on and around the building.

MILLER’S SOULFOOD KITCHEN, 7303 N. Pearl St, Jacksonville
This family success story grew from a produce business in the Jacksonville Farmers Market into a popular eatery occupying the former Skinner’s Dairy on N Pearl St. in North Shore. Today Miller’s Soulfood Kitchen is a popular destination offering a variety of traditional soul food dishes of Gullah Geechee origin.

CANAL ST. CHICKEN AND SEAFOOD, 6651 San Juan Ave, Jacksonville
Canal St. serves up tasty to-go orders of chicken and seafood from both its restaurant and a food truck. The brick-and-mortar location occupies the former Skinner’s Dairy on San Juan Avenue in the Westside Jacksonville neighborhood of Hyde Park.

LIBERTY BAKERY, 6661 Bowden Ave, Jacksonville
This drive-through bakery serves up baked treats as well as breakfast sandwiches and lunch. This former milk house off Bowden Rd. in Jacksonville’s Southside is located close to the original Skinner’s Dairy farm.