Flagler College

The former Ponce de Leon hotel in St. Augustine was built in 1888 and was later converted to a private liberal arts college, Flagler College, in 1968.

Oil magnant Flagler had the hotel built and hired famous artists and innovators of the day to adorn the interior such as Louis Comfort Tiffany for stained glass windows and chandeliers, and Thomas Edison for electric light.

There was running water and steam heat in the hotel. Beautiful mosaic tile floors and carved oak columns enhance the interior and lush gardens surround the buildings.

Buildings are constructed of poured concrete and edged with red brick and terra cotta carvings and topped with red tile roofs. Water and boiler towers, spires, and red brick chimneys jut into the skyline.

Draped iron chains and spike studded spheres hang from concrete posts as a fence.

Copper lightening rods top the rotunda and other spires.

The concrete used in the building was a mixture of Portland cement, sand, and coquina (a limestone composed of broken shells, corals, and other organic debris).  The concrete walls were poured in place with wood forms holding them till they hardened. The foundation is four feet thick and the exterior walls taper to two feet thick in the upper stories.

The coquina for the Ponce de Leon came from quarries on Anastasia Island. It was crushed to use as the aggregate in the concrete mix, and the shell stone is plainly visible in the hotel walls.  The Portland cement came from a New York City company that imported it from Germany. At one point I looked down and saw I was walking on beautiful stamped brick sidewalk.

If you only tour Flagler College in St. Augustine you'll have memories to last a lifetime. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.