History
Located at the heart of historic St. Augustine, the Lightner Museum occupies the former Hotel Alcazar, a Gilded Age resort hotel commissioned by Standard Oil executive Henry Flagler. Completed in 1888, the magnificent Spanish Renaissance Revival building was designed by the prominent architecture firm of Carrère and Hastings.
Learn more below about how the Alcazar became the Lightner Museum.
From the 1880s through the second decade of the twentieth century, Henry Flagler dedicated himself to the development of Florida’s East Coast...
Designed by the architects Carrère and Hastings, the Alcazar was the second resort hotel built by Henry Flagler in St. Augustine...
John Merven Carrère (1858-1911) and Thomas Hastings (1860-1929) were two of the most prominent architects of America’s Gilded Age...
During America’s Gilded Age, wealthy Americans found respite from industrialized cities at resort hotels in picturesque destinations across the country...
To ensure their successful operation, Flagler’s hotels required a substantial workforce...
The Hotel Alcazar closed permanently after the winter season of 1931...
