About the Lightner Museum
The Lightner Museum is dedicated to enriching the lives of visitors through our extraordinary collection, historic building, and dynamic exhibitions and programs. Founded in 1948 by Chicago publisher, collector, and professional hobbyist Otto C. Lightner, the museum offers an immersive experience of art, architecture, history, and design. The museum occupies the former Hotel Alcazar, a Gilded Age resort hotel commissioned by railroad magnate Henry Flagler. Completed in 1888, the magnificent Spanish Renaissance Revival building was designed by the prominent architecture firm of Carrère and Hastings.
At the heart of the museum’s offerings are its compelling collections. From Gilded Age furniture and vintage typewriters to American Brilliant Era cut glass and Victorian mechanical musical instruments, the Lightner Museum’s collections are rich, eclectic, and always engaging.
Steeped in history, the Lightner Museum is not simply about the past. Just as Otto Lightner connected with people across America who wanted to enrich their lives through collecting, the Lightner Museum today offers new perspectives through its exhibitions, events, and educational programs.
Mission
To inspire curiosity, excite minds, and enrich lives through our unique collection, historic building, and dynamic exhibitions and programs.
Vision
We envision the Lightner Museum as a vibrant and relevant museum of art and culture, offering enriching experiences to a diverse audience.
Values
At the Lightner Museum we are:
Inclusive: All are welcome at the Lightner. We connect people with the arts and each other in rich and varied ways, serving as a cultural and social hub for our community.
Inspiring: We are a place of inspiration and learning. Through our diverse collection we draw people together, creating encounters with beautiful and unique things and sharing experiences that are exciting, enriching, and fun.
Engaging: We deliver engaging educational experiences that are full of wonder, making a visit to the Museum surprising, lively, and memorable.
Stewards: We preserve the past but look to the future. As stewards of Henry Flagler’s Alcazar Hotel building and Otto Lightner’s collection we strive to strengthen and enrich the Lightner Museum, to pass this extraordinary legacy on to future generations.
Board of Trustees
Teresa Radzinski, Board Chair
Bank of America
Mark Bailey
The Bailey Group
David Drysdale
St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park
David Peek
Rogers Tower, Attorneys at Law
Nancy Sikes-Kline
Mayor, St. Augustine
William Henry Jackson, Pool at the Hotel Alcazar, c.1890s
