Flagler College - Ponce de Leon Hall

Flagler College - Ponce de Leon Hall

Flagler College celebrates 50 years of providing a rich, comprehensive liberal arts education in a small, supportive environment. Its heritage, however, extends back more than a century.

The college is named for Henry Morrison Flagler, a Gilded Age industrialist, railroad pioneer, and entrepreneur who partnered with John D. Rockefeller to found the Standard Oil Company.

In 1888, Flagler built the Hotel Ponce de León, his first in a series of luxury resorts along Florida’s east coast. A masterpiece of Spanish Renaissance architecture and the first major poured-in-place concrete building in the United States is now known as Ponce de Leon Hall. A National Historic Landmark, it serves as the centerpiece for Flagler College.

The grand hotel launched the careers of young architects John Carrére and Thomas Hastings who are noted most for the New York Public Library and The House and Senate Office Buildings adjacent to the Capitol in Washington, D.C.  Interestingly, Carrére and Hastings, were young men right out of college when they designed the hotel.

The Edison Electric Company powered the building with steam heat and 4,000 electric lights, making the Ponce one of the nation’s first electrified buildings. Louis Comfort Tiffany is credited with the building’s interior design including the stained glass and mosaics.

Murals were completed by George Willoughby Maynard and Virgilio Tojetti.

The Hotel Ponce de León was innovative for its time and serves as a reminder of his en ... view more »

LOCATION

Flagler College - Ponce de Leon Hall

74 King St., St. Augustine, FL 32084

ALBUQUERQUE LITTLE THEATRE

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  • ico-y-knife.pngGarcias Kitchen The Original
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  • ico-y-knife.pngBottger Mansion of Old Town
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Featured Venues

Lightner Museum

With sparkling crystal chandeliers, intricate mosaic tile flooring, majestic arched windows, and carved wooden staircases, Lightner Museum is a show-stopper! The museum opened in 1948, displaying the collections of Otto C. Lightner, which include 19th-century artwork, glassware, sculpture, furniture, stained glass, and antique chandeliers throughout the three floors of exhibits. Originally built as the Hotel Alcazar in 1888 by Standard Oil co-founder Henry Flagler, this beautiful structure was created in the Spanish Renaissance Revival Style. In addition to the Lightner Museum, it also houses St. Augustine City Hall, several antique shops, and Cafe Alcazar, a restaurant that sits in the location of what was once the world’s largest indoor swimming pool.

Beluthahatchee Park

Beluthahatchee Park is a four-acre park located within the 70-acre tract of land purchased by Stetson Kennedy in 1948 after the 18-acre Beluthahatchee Lake was created by impounding Mill Creek in 1945. This lake meanders through a natural basin and is surrounded by high bluffs, currently owned by the Lake Dwellers Association, a non-profit Florida corporation formed by the lakefront residents. In 1949, the 70-acre tract was subdivided and platted by the owner/developer Stetson Kennedy who recorded the restrictive covenants setting aside land in perpetuity as a wildlife refuge, and stipulating that residential construction be consistent with the developer’s goal of “serving as a working demonstration that human and natural habitat need not be mutually exclusive, but can coexist in harmony.”