James Edwin Ruthvin Carpenter, sometimes known as J. E. R. Carpenter, was a renowned architect who designed the American National Bank Building in Pensacola, as well as many other fine buildings around the nation.
Carpenter graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1884, he attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Buildings designed by J. E. R. Carpenter include the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, the Hurt Building in Atlanta, the Empire Building in Birmingham, and the Stahlman Building in Nashville.