The Lightner Museum is a museum of antiques, mostly American

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...

pieces, housed within the historic Hotel Alcazar building in downtown

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

. This 1887 Spanish Renaissance Revival style building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

History

Hotel Alcazar

The hotel was commissioned by Henry Flagler, to appeal to wealthy tourists who traveled south for the winter on his railroad, the Florida East Coast Railway. It was designed by New York City architects Carrère and Hastings, in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style. The firm also designed the

Ponce de León Hotel The Ponce de Leon Hotel, also known as The Ponce, was an exclusive luxury hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, built by millionaire developer and Standard Oil co-founder Henry M. Flagler and completed in 1888. The hotel was designed in the Spanish ...

across the street, now part of the campus of Flagler College. Both structures are notable for being among the earliest examples of poured concrete buildings in the world. These architects later designed the New York Public Library in New York City and the

Russell Senate Office Building The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908 and opened in 1909. It was named for former Senator Richard Russel ...

in Washington, D.C. The hotel had a steam room, massage parlor, sulfur baths, gymnasium, a three-story ballroom, and the world's largest indoor swimming pool; however, after years as an elegant winter resort for wealthy patrons, the hotel closed in 1932. On August 20, 1947 Chicago publisher Otto C. Lightner purchased the building to convert the old hotel into a hobbies museum. He used the space to house several collections, including his own extensive collection of Victorian era art. He then turned it over to the city of St. Augustine and the museum opened to the public in 1948. The building is an attraction in itself, centering on an open courtyard with

palm tree The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm tr ...

s and a

stone arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct (a ...

over a koi pond.

Museum

The museum occupies three floors of the former Hotel Alcazar and is housed in the former health facilities of the hotel, including the spa and the Turkish bath, in addition to its three-story ballroom. The first floor of the museum houses a Victorian Science and Industry Room displays shells, rocks, minerals, and Native American artifacts in beautiful

cases, as well as stuffed birds, a small Egyptian mummy, a model

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

, elaborate examples of Victorian glassblowing, a golden elephant bearing the world on its back, and a shrunken head. Moreover, the first floor contains a music room, filled with mechanized musical instruments—including player pianos, reproducing pianos, orchestrions, and others—dating from the 1870s through the 1920s. It formerly featured a Victorian village, with shop fronts representing emporia selling period wares; this area is now the gift shop. The second floor contains examples of cut glass, Victorian

art glass Art glass is a subset of glass art, this latter covering the whole range of art made from glass. Art glass normally refers only to pieces made since the mid-19th century, and typically to those purely made as sculpture or decorative art, with no ...

and stained-glass work from Louis Comfort Tiffany's studio. The third floor, in the ballroom's upper balcony, exhibits paintings, sculptures, and furniture, including a '' grande escritoire'' created for

Louis Bonaparte Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French ...

, Napoleon's brother and King of Holland between 1806 and 1810. The Ballroom Gallery has oil paintings by Paul Trouillebert (''Cleopatra & the Dying Messenger''),

Léon Comerre Léon François Comerre (10 October 1850 – 20 February 1916) was a French academic painter, famous for his portraits of beautiful women and Oriental themes. Life Comerre was born in Trélon, in the Département du Nord, the son of a sc ...

(''Maid of Honor''), and Albert Bierstadt (''In the Yosemite''). It also has sculptures by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Randolph Rogers. On view from the ballroom's upper balcony is the now drained swimming pool. The pool now hosts the Cafe Alcazar.

Gallery

File:Lightner Museum - Tower Detail.JPG, Tower detail of the Lightner Museum File:Taxidermic Bird - Lightner Museum.JPG, Taxidermic bird (detail) at the Lightner Museum File:Shrunken Head - Lightner Museum.jpg, Shrunken head exhibited at the Lightner Museum File:Tiffany Window of St Augustine - Lightner Museum.jpg, Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass window of

, exhibited at the Lightner Museum File:Alcazar Hotel, St. Augustine, FL, US (14).jpg, Historical marker File:Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Statue.jpg, alt=, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Statue - May 2019 File:Alcazar Hotel Historic Marker.jpg, alt=, Alcazar Hotel Historic Marker File:Alcazar Hotel Courtyard 1.jpg, alt=, Courtyard - May 2019 File:Alcazar Hotel Courtyard 2.jpg, alt=, Courtyard Koi Pond - May 2019

References

* Ossman, Laurie; Ewing, Heather (2011). ''Carrère and Hastings, The Masterworks''. Rizzoli USA. .

External links