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Free Traveling Guides » States » Florida » The Northeast Lightner Museum
The Lightner Museum, situated in downtown St. Augustine, Florida, occupies the first three floors of former Hotel Alcazar, which was built by Henry M. Flagler in 1887 to attract the wealthy tourists. Designed by renowned architects Carrere and Hastings, this historic hotel building is best known for its Spanish Renaissance style of architecture and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1946, the hotel was sold to Chicago publisher Otto C. Lightner, who founded the museum in 1948, and later sold it to the City of St. Augustine.
Today, the Lightner Museum is well-known for its extensive collection of American Victorian antiquities. It is housed in the former health facilities of Hotel Alcazar- the Turkish bath, the three-storey ball room, and the spa. The first floor of the museum houses a beautiful Victorian Village, a Victorian Science and Industry Room, and a large Music Room. The Victorian Village features numerous shops selling period wares, while the Music Room is complete with automated musical instruments, including reproducing pianos, orchestrions, and player pianos, dating from the 1870s to the 1920s. The Victorian Science and Industry Room, on the other hand, showcases pieces of rocks, shells, Native American artifacts, and minerals in elegant turn-of-the-20th-century cases. The other impressive exhibits in this room include stuffed birds, model steam engines, a small Egyptian Mummy, highly crafted examples of Victorian glassblowing, a shrunken head, and a golden elephant bearing the globe on its back.
The museum’s second floor exhibits exemplars of cut glass, stained glass work, and Victorian art glass work of Louis Comfort’s Tiffany Studio. The third floor of the museum features sculpture, paintings, and period furniture. The major attraction on this floor is a grande escritoire, created in the period 1806-1810 for the King of Holland, Louis Bonaparte. Several other tourist attractions, including the Epcot Center, Cape Canaveral, and Disney World, are situated just 2 hours from the Lightner Museum. The well-frequented Café Alcazar is located directly behind the museum, in the former indoor swimming pool of the hotel building. Situated just 1 hr from the Daytona Beach and merely 20 minutes from I-95, the Lightner Museum is easily accessible to the public and is certainly not to be missed!
- Address: 75 King Street,
Saint Augustine, FL 32084
- Telephone: (904) 824-2874
- Hours: 9 AM - 5 PM daily. Last admission at 4 PM. Closed Christmas day.
- Website: www.lightnermuseum.org
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