Glossary
for the Lightner Museum
Alcazar
Alcazar means castle in Spanish and is derived from comes
from the Arabic word “al quasar” meaning fortress or palace.
Hotel Alcazar
Henry Flagler opened the Hotel Alcazar on December 25, 1888 while
under construction in order to accommodate an overflow of guest from the Hotel
Ponce de Leon. The Hotel Alcazar was completed and reopened in 1889. The costs
to build the hotel were in excess of one million dollars. The walls are made
out of coquina and this was one of the first buildings made out of poured
concrete in the United States. Designed by John Carrere and Thomas Hastings, who
were trained in the school of Beaux Art the Hotel Alcazar style is called Spanish
Renaissance. The hotel had three hundred guest rooms, lounge areas, a casino,
massage room, Turkish and Russian baths in the south section of the building. The
Hotel Alcazar closed during the Great Depression in 1932 and remained closed
until Otto Lighter purchased it in 1947. The Hotel Alcazar then became the
Lightner Museum. Otto Lightner used the space to house his private collection
of antiques. Henry Flagler also built the Hotel Ponce de Leon in 1888 and purchased
the Hotel Cordova from William Smith in 1888, renaming it the Casa Monica Hotel.
Casino
A Casino is an area for entertainment where typically
gambling took place. Cards were
generally utilized in the games. The Hotel Alcazar had a casino located in the back
of the building where the pool, massage area and baths were also located. The
Hotel Alcazar “casino” was similar to a “spa” atmosphere.
Carrere
and Hastings
John Carrere (1858-1911) and
Thomas Hastings (1860-1929) were the architects that
designed the Ponce de Leon and
Hotel Alcazar for Henry Flagler. They were two of the most famous
architects of the late nineteenth, and early twentieth century. Carrere and
Hastings designed more than six hundred buildings in the United States,
including the New York Public Library and the House and
Senate Office building in Washington D.C.
Collection(s)
A gathering of similar items considered being of some value
or significance to the owner. Many Victorians were quite enthusiastic about
collecting, especially once postcards which were introduced in 1873. The
Lighter Museum houses several collections from this time period, such as
seashells, taxidermy animals, glassware and mechanical musical instruments.
Otto Lightner wrote books and magazines about auctions and collecting.
Coquina
Shells and limestone mined from local Anastasia Island and
used as the aggregate of the poured concrete construction in St. Augustine. The
shells in coquina are a species called a coquina clam or (Donax variabilis). Some coquina is a mixture of many other clams
and cockles.
Courtyard
An unroofed area or garden that is typically enclosed within
the walls of a structure.
Henry
Flagler
Co-founder with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews in
Standard Oil, entrepreneur who came to St. Augustine and built hotels. Invested heavily in the railroad industry and
extended the Florida East Coast railroads all the way to Key West. Today the
Florida East Coast office buildings are dormitories for Flagler College.
Gilded
Age
Author Sean D. Cashman, writes of the Gilded Age as being “From
The Death Of Lincoln To The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt.” A phrase coined by
Mark Twain, as a title of a satire of political and financial corruption (1873)
lasted from 1869-1899.
Glessner
House Museum
A museum in Chicago, which was built in 1887 as a home for
John and Francis Glessner. O.C. Lightner purchased to home in originally housed
his collection. Lightner purchased the Glessner House in 1933 to house his
eclectic Victorian collections.
Hobbies
Magazine
Published by O.C. Lightner beginning in 1931 pertaining to
collecting antiques and hobbies. The magazine continued to be published after
his death in 1950.
Otto
Curtis Lightner (1887-1950)
Lightner was a newspaper typesetter and editor. Lightner was
able to make several floundering newspapers successful, profitable enterprises.
Lightner also wrote books and created a magazine for collectors, named Hobbies – The Magazine For All Collectors.
Lightner, the Chicago millionaire, purchased the
old Alcazar Hotel in 1947, restored the empty
and dilapidated building and turned it into a
museum to house his antiques collection. He was well known for collecting and
encouraging others to collect. Lightner told people, “Even with not money,
everyone could collect something. Everyone should have a hobby. Everyone should
collect something.”
Lightner
Museum
The Hotel Alcazar, had closed during the Great Depression was
purchased by Chicago millionaire Otto. C. Lightner and reopened in 1947 as a
museum of antiquities. Lightner moved his collections from the Glessner House
in Chicago to the Hotel Alcazar which was renamed “The Lighter Museum.”
Louis
Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)
Stained glass artist who contributed some of his work to the
Hotel Alcazar and Ponce de Leon and has many glasswork pieces on display at the
Lightner Museum. The Lightner has a beautiful Tiffany Dragon Fly lamp, stained
glass windows and Tiffany iridescent glassware.
Maria
Sanchez Creek
This creek originally occupied the site of the Hotel Alcazar.
Henry Flagler filled in the marshy creek
land so that he could construct the Hotel Alcazar.
Museum
An institution meant to display and educate people about
artifacts that are considered to be of value intellectually or monetarily.
National
Register of Historic Places
The National Register is part of the National Park Service,
a national program to preserve historic sites in America. There are many
edifices in St. Augustine, which are protected by historic preserve efforts.
Poured
concrete
Structures using concrete construction methods date back to
the Roman times, but Henry Flagler was able to utilize Portland cement by
mixing it with the local coquina shell to build the Ponce de Leon and Alcazar
Hotels. The concrete was added in 18-inch
layers between wooden forms and left for several days to cure before more was
poured on top.
Turkish
Bath
A Turkish bath is a room of dry heat where the temperature
was set at 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit.
There was a Turkish bath at the Alcazar.
Spanish
Renaissance Architecture
Popular in Florida, Spanish Renaissance reflects Old Spanish
palaces and homes of Spain. Henry Flagler built the Hotel Ponce and Alcazar in
this style.
Russian
Bath
A room of wet heat where the temperature was set between
112-120 degrees Fahrenheit. The Alcazar had a Russian bath for guests.
Terra
Cotta
An orange brown
colored clay used on many of the Flagler Era buildings in St. Augustine
including the Hotel Alcazar, Hotel Ponce de Leon and the Casa Monica.
Victorian
Era
Named for the time of the reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria,
1837-1901. Generally thought as a time
of great prosperity.
Victoriana
Items dating from the Victorian period.
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