Hotel Ponce de Leon

Henry Flagler's opulent Hotel Ponce de Leon drew worldwide praise from the day its elaborately carved doors opened in 1888. Built in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style, the architectural and engineering marvel featured the talents of a team of renowned artisans, including the designs of architects John Carrre, Thomas Hastings, and Bernard Maybeck, electricity by Thomas Edison, and interior decoration and stained glass windows by Louis Tiffany. The rich and famous strolling its halls were the most successful people of the Gilded Age, including John D. Rockefeller, Mark Twain, Alexander Graham Bell, and President Teddy Roosevelt. But with the Great Depression, the gem of Flagler's empire began a slow decline until Flagler College acquired it in 1968 as the centerpiece of its campus. Hotel Ponce de Leon is the first work to present the building's complete history and detail its transformation into the heart of Flagler College. Leslee Keys, who played a major role in the restoration, recounts the complicated construction of the hotel - the first major structure to be built entirely of poured concrete - and the efforts to preserve it and restore it to its former glory. The methods used at Flagler College have been recognized as best practices in historic preservation and decorative arts conservation, and today the campus is one of Floridas most visited heritage tourism destinations.