FLAGLER COLLEGE

St. Augustine, FL

The Ponce de Leon Hotel was at first a 540-room luxury hotel built in 1888 by Standard Oil railway baron Henry Flagler. The hotel was designed in the Spanish Renaissance style by the New York architecture firm Carrère & Hastings. It was constructed entirely of poured concrete and wired for electricity from the onset, both firsts. Originally the twin towers of the hotel were 8,000 gallon water storage tanks, providing running water for hotel guests. Room rates were originally $5 per night.

The Hotel opened as an instant success. Flagler then opened the Alcazar, just across the street, to absorbed guests that the Ponce could not accommodate. A year later, he purchased the troubled Casa Monica Hotel, renovated it and reopened it as the Cordova. Flagler believed Florida was ripe for development, as he continued building south along the state's east coast, and attempting to create the "American Riviera".

The hotel saw declining visitor numbers through the 1910’s and 1920’s. During World War II, the Hotel was taken over by the government and was used as a Coast Guard training center. One of the towers served as the brig during that period. After the war ended, the building was deactivated by the Coast Guard, and returned to operation as a hotel. Large crowds returned, but the boom did not last. The hotel saw declining visitor numbers in the following years, and in 1967 it was closed. The following year, the hotel became the home of the newly-established Flagler College, and was restored to its original grandeur.

The occasion for this sketch was a get-away from the First Coast Dance competition in St. Augustine. At first, I was unsure this building was a college – too grandiose - but two students assured me it was their school. I was struck by the rigid symmetry of the design, only violated by a small dormer to left of center roof. Somebody lost their focus?