Florida’s grandest old campus used to be a hotel for America’s richest families: Authorities confirm

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It’s still a working campus

Flagler College sits in the middle of old St. Augustine, and the main building looks like it belongs in another century. That’s because it does. The place opened in 1888 as the Hotel Ponce de Leon, a grand winter resort for wealthy Northerners, and it became a college in 1968. It holds National Historic Landmark status, and guided tours take you through the public rooms on the ground floor. What you find inside those rooms stops people mid-step. Shutterstock

A Standard Oil fortune built this place

Henry Flagler made his money as a Standard Oil co-founder and railroad builder, and he poured it into this hotel. It opened in January 1888 as a luxury resort, and the guests who checked in arrived by private rail car. Two young architects, John Carrere and Thomas Hastings, designed the building as their first major project. The hotel closed decades later and reopened as Flagler College in 1968. Students now call Ponce de Leon Hall home. Wikimedia Commons/Maksim Sundukov

Seventy-nine Tiffany windows light up the dining hall

The dining hall holds 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass windows, one of the largest collections under a single roof anywhere. Tiffany designed them early in his career. Throughout the day, colored light moves across the room as the sun shifts, painting the walls and tables in blues, greens and golds. Students still eat their meals here. You sit down for lunch with Tiffany glass glowing above you. That’s just a Tuesday at Flagler College. Shutterstock

The dome rises 68 feet above the Rotunda floor

The Rotunda served as the hotel’s main lobby, and you feel the scale the moment you walk in. A dome climbs about 68 feet overhead. Eight female figures carved from oak, called caryatids, hold the dome up on their shoulders. Gilded walls and dark woodwork surround you on every side. People call it the most elegant room in St. Augustine, and when you stand in the center and look straight up, you understand why. Wikimedia Commons/Kiran891

A Spanish galleon sails across the ceiling

George W. Maynard painted many of the ceiling murals you see inside the building. Virgilio Tojetti contributed others.

In the dining hall, allegorical figures and fine detail cover the ceiling overhead. One scene shows a Spanish galleon under full sail. Gilding warms the dimly lit spaces and catches whatever light comes through the Tiffany glass. You crane your neck the entire time, and nobody around you minds because they’re doing the same thing. Shutterstock

The walls are made of crushed seashells

The hotel was one of the first large poured-in-place concrete buildings in America. Workers mixed the concrete with coquina shell from nearby Anastasia Island and poured it in layers into wooden forms. The method was new, and nobody had tried it at this scale in the 1880s. You can see the texture in the walls if you look closely. The building set an example for concrete construction across the country and still stands solid more than 130 years later. Wikimedia Commons/Bubba73

Thomas Edison wired the lights himself

The Hotel Ponce de Leon was one of the first buildings in the nation wired for electricity, and Thomas Edison helped set up the system. Thousands of electric lights filled the rooms. Some early guests had never seen electricity before. They were so wary of it that hotel staff walked room to room, turning lights on and off for them. Running water and other modern comforts came built in from the start, making the hotel a marvel of its time. Wikimedia Commons/Kiran891

The Women’s Grand Parlor still has its marble fireplace

The Flagler Room started life as the hotel’s Women’s Grand Parlor, and you see it on the guided tour. A large marble fireplace anchors one end of the room. Elegant chandeliers hang overhead, and period details fill every corner. Tiffany glass and fine finishes run wall to wall. The room feels like it’s waiting for women in long dresses to walk back in and take their seats. Everything here looks the way it did when the hotel first opened its doors. Wikimedia Commons/Bubba73

Italian mosaic tile covers the Rotunda floor

Louis Comfort Tiffany handled more than the windows. He’s credited with interior-design work throughout the building, including stained glass and mosaics. Italian mosaic tile covers the Rotunda floor in tight geometric patterns. Pink Numidian marble and dark oak line the walls. The New York firm Pottier and Stymus made the fine furnishings. Carvings and mosaics appear in every room you enter, and each one rewards a second look.

Wikimedia Commons/Maksim Sundukov

Seventy-nine Tiffany windows light up the dining hall

The dining hall holds 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass windows, one of the largest collections under a single roof anywhere.

Wikimedia Commons/Farragutful

Twin towers once held the water supply

Carrere and Hastings designed the building in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style, and it looks like it belongs in Seville. Twin towers rise above the main entrance and once held large tanks that supplied running water to the entire hotel. Detailed terra-cotta work decorates the exterior from top to bottom. You can stand across King Street and take in the full facade, and the towers give the building a profile you recognize from blocks away. Wikimedia Commons/DXR

Walk the courtyard for free any day

A large courtyard sits at the center of the building, with a fountain as its centerpiece. You can walk the grounds and look at the architecture without spending a dollar. The Rotunda is open to the public at no charge, so you can step inside and see the dome, the carvings and the mosaic floors on your own. The Spanish-style design catches the Florida sunlight, and the courtyard alone is worth the walk over from St. George Street. Wikimedia Commons/Kiran891

Student guides bring 136 years of history to life

The building still runs as an active college campus, and student guides lead the historic tours. Tours last about 45 to 60 minutes and cover the ground-floor public spaces, including the dining hall, the Rotunda and the Flagler Room. Flagler College sits within walking distance of St. Augustine’s other historic sites, so you can build a full day around it. The place blends real college life with more than a century of history, and both sides feel alive. Shutterstock

Explore Ponce de Leon Hall in St. Augustine, Florida

If you want to see one of the finest Gilded Age interiors in the country, head to Flagler College at 74 King Street in St. Augustine’s historic district. Guided tours run by reservation and cover the dining hall, Rotunda and Flagler Room. The courtyard and Rotunda are free to visit without a ticket. Give yourself at least an hour for the tour, and wear comfortable shoes because you’ll spend most of it looking up. This article was created with AI assistance and human editing. Read more from this brand:

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