Thursday - A Day with Henry Flagler

 

February 9, 2012   Thursday with Henry Flagler

After seeing Flagler College this morning, I’m ready to enroll again as an undergraduate. A current Flagler student took us on a tour of the main college building, housed in the former Ponce de Leon Hotel, built by Henry Flagler.  She pointed out some of the architectural details of the exterior, such as nautical and lion motifs (leon means lion in Spanish) and the dragonheads.  During Flagler’s time, red light bulbs were installed in dragons’ mouths so that they resembled fire-breathing mythical creatures at night.  Inside, we stepped onto a mosaic floor and marveled at the lavishly decorated rotunda.  Our guide assured us that the gold we saw on the murals and dome was real.  Understandably, they featured the usual Spanish explorers and ships but I thought the carved oak caryatids were a bit unusual.  They portrayed women in various stages of pregnancy. 

Perhaps the most impressive part of the hotel was the Grand Ballroom.  Today, this is used as the dining hall today for Flagler College.  On the morning of our visit, we saw students munching on muffins and sipping coffee under the magnificent Tiffany stained glass windows.  Every surface in the spacious high-ceilinged room is decorated (once again, explorers and sailing ships).  A more feminine feeling pervades the Grand Parlor Room.  Portraits of Henry Flagler and his third wife adorn the pastel blue and cream walls.  The plush sofas and chairs are arranged in groupings for conversation.  And each one of the sparkling Austrian crystal chandeliers is unique. 

Interesting fact:  When the 450-room hotel opened in January of 1888, guests had to pay in full, in cash and up front, for three months (January through March).  

Most people know the name John D. Rockefeller and associate it with Standard Oil.  But until we came on our Road Scholar trip, we had no idea that Henry Flagler was Rockefeller’s business partner and a co-founder of the Standard Oil Trust.  Over the past few days, we’ve gotten very familiar with Henry Flagler’s life story.  It’s hard not to admire his work ethic, his energy, and his devotion to his family.  A self-made millionaire, he came to Florida for the sake of his first wife’s health and stayed to fulfill his dream of creating a luxury resort hotel in Spanish Renaissance style.  He called his hotel Ponce de Leon, in honor of the early Spanish explorer.  Through his friendship with Thomas Edison, Flagler was able to install electricity in his hotel.  And his friendship with Louis Comfort Tiffany accounts for the stained glass windows throughout the structure.

Flagler College was just our first stop of the day.  Immediately afterwards, we strolled across King Street to the Casa Monica. The premier hotel in St. Augustine today, it is also a historic building. Not long after Flagler built the Ponce de Leon, Franklin Smith (of Villa Zorayda fame) got the idea of becoming a hotelier and purchased a piece of land from Flagler.  He called his somewhat smaller (200 room) hotel Casa Monica.  (Interesting factoid:  Monica was the mother of St. Augustine.)  Like the Ponce de Leon, the Casa Monica was built in Spanish Renaissance style.  However, the difference between the two hotels is immediately apparent when you walk into the lobby of the Casa Monica.  While both hotels are opulent and Moorish in influence, the scale of Smith’s hotel is much smaller, creating an intimate feeling.  His plan to compete with Flagler in the hotel business was a dismal failure, however, and within four months, he sold his property to Flagler at a loss.  Flagler immediately changed the name of the Casa Monica  to Hotel Cordova.  The hotel closed in the early 20^th century and remained closed for several decades.  In the 1960s, it was purchased by the city of St. Augustine (or maybe it was St. John’s County?) and turned into the county courthouse.  When the building became vacant again in the 1980s, a Savannah-based hotel magnate named Richard Kessler snapped it up.  He did extensive renovation before re-opening the hotel as the Casa Monica once again.

Personally, I preferred the interior of the Casa Monica to the Ponce de Leon.  It looks perfect for a romantic rendezvous with pierced brass lamps hanging from low ceilings, decoratively carved dark wooden furniture, richly patterned Moorish fabrics, and a warm color scheme.  The Road Scholars had a tour of the property and a wonderful luncheon in a private meeting room.  The hotel restaurant is famous for its meatloaf, which Elliott and many others tried.  It was an extremely generous serving, accompanied by mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and haricots verts.  I was delighted with the portabella mushroom sandwich (sautéed spinach, roasted red pepper, melted Brie between two mushroom caps, covered with arugula in a tangy vinaigrette with shavings of Parmesan).  Dessert was fabulous and just the right size.  The small shot glass held a layer of chocolate cookie crumbles at the bottom, then a thick center portion of dark chocolate mousse, and finally a dollop of whipped cream garnished with chocolate curls.  It tasted as good as it looked.  Also, there’s a lovely outdoor pool with a covered area for lounging and dining.  By the way, the hotel has 138 guestrooms today, and many rooms are not outrageously expensive.  (Elliott, please note!)

It was only half past twelve when we finished lunch so we had the whole afternoon ahead of us.  This was our “free time” in the downtown area.  Since my cousin, Abbe, lives in Jacksonville, she and her son drove down to meet us for the afternoon.  Although we’d just eaten, they were starving, so we accompanied them to a trattoria on nearby Aviles Street.  Sitting under a big umbrella at an outdoor table, we caught up with family news.  And since we’re all chocoholics, we decided to take a walk down King Street to the Whetstone Chocolate Factory.  There wasn’t enough time to do a tour of the facility, but we had plenty of time to sample more truffles.  At 4 o’clock, after more walking and an ice cream stop for Elliott, we gratefully boarded the shuttle bus for the trip back to our hotel.