Glossary for the Hotel Alcazar - Lightner Museum

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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