Lightner Museum

The Lightner Museum—the former Hotel Alcazar, built in 1887 by railroad magnate Henry M. Flagler. Chicago publisher Otto C. Lightner purchased the Hotel Alcazar building in 1946 and opened a museum to his extensive collection of Victoriana and the Gilded Age two years later. It is now a testament to 19th Century design and opulence.

I went to St. Augustine to visit and photograph the “Ponce de Leon Hotel.” My great-great-grandfather was a fresco artist who worked on the hotel's fresco paintings. The Ponce de Leon is a magnificent piece of architecture and a really wonderful artifact showing the opulence of its time. The wealthy icons of eastern families used to vacation here. Back in its day, the Ponce de Leon (now Flagler College) was the height of elegance.

St. Augustine is a truly beautiful city. The Spanish design of the buildings is so unlike anything else on the East Coast. We visited it again in July of this year. We stopped in St. Augustine on our way back from our honeymoon in 1988 and were anxious to see if the city was as if we remembered it. Happily, not much has changed.

USA-Canada / USA-Florida

Lat: 29° 53' 28.34" N
Long: 82° 19' 50.18" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Canon XTi with Sigma 8mm f/3.5, Nodal Ninja 3 and Manfrotto 190CXPO4