| St. Augustine Hotel Competition |
| The Major St. Augustine Competition
Most of the hotels opened only for the winter season, which could extend from November through May. Late openings or early closings meant that guests would simply move to other hotels. The hotel proprietors usually managed a hotel in a northern state in the summer; like their wealthy guests, they wintered in the south and spent summers in the north. The hotel maids, waiters, etc. did the same thing in many instances. Henry Flagler broke the pattern by not offering a northern hotel. However, his managers were allowed to advertise their summer hotels (including adding the name of the other hotel on the Flagler hotel stationery). If the manager was good at his job, guests would “follow” the manager from hotel to hotel. Florida House George L. Atkins and Sons were the proprietors of the Florida House Hotel in the 1880s. Their summer hotel was the Ocean Hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey, open from June 15th to September 15th. The Florida House was originally built in 1833. Mr. J. H. Rehmer of Ansonia, Connecticut erected the main building in 1875. In 1883, George Atkins petitioned the town council for permission to build a pedestrian bridge over Treasury Street, connecting the Florida House with the Planters Hotel, and enlarging the hotel. In the 1884 Chapins’ Hand Book of St. Augustine by Elias Nason, the Florida House was advertised as a winter hotel open from December to April. Chapins’ reported that improvements had been made to the hotel, and that its 131 rooms were “…large, elegantly furnished, well ventilated, and lighted throughout with gas. A steam passenger elevator carries guests to the “New improvements were made for the year. The rooms were advertised as large, elegantly furnished, well ventilated, and lighted throughout with gas. A steam passenger elevator carries fourth floor. The introduction of steam into the building insures a warm and comfortable house. Electric bells in each room connect with the office. Terms are $4.00 a day. A liberal reduction given to parties desiring to engage rooms for the season. Special rates for January.” George L. Atkins and Sons ran the hotel. The sister hotel to the Florida House was Pierce Villa in Cottage City, Massachusetts. The rates at Pierce Villa were $3 to $4 per day in 1890. Magnolia Hotel Mr. B. E. Carr, a St. Augustine merchant, built the Magnolia Hotel in 1847 and W. W. Palmer from New York City became the proprietor in 1872. The 200-room hotel was located on St. George Street and boasted great fireplaces in the reading-room and parlor. A specialty of house was the hand-painted menus. In 1859 a guest could stay at the Magnolia for $1.25 per day. However, the rate for second floor accommodations was $6.50 per month, and guests staying in the attic paid only $4.00 a month. By 1886 the Magnolia had 250 rooms that rented for $4.00 a day. In 1892, it advertised filtered rainwater for drinking, and by 1894, porcelain bathtubs on each floor were advertised. The partners had hotels in New Jersey for the summer months. Palmer originally had Hotel Brighton at Long Branch, New Jersey, with space for 250 guests and rates of $17.50 to $25 per week. Later, Palmer and MacDowell owned Hotel Breslin on Lake Hopatcong, N. J. It was forty-three miles from New York, had electricity and could care for 500 guests. St. George Hotel The St. George Hotel started with the house of Dr. Oliver Bronson. It was originally a small hotel provided over by Col. Tyler but in 1887 Charles Tyler, his son, enlarged it. The hotel was located next to the Trinity Episcopal Church on St. George Street. By 1888 the property was owned by L. K. Tyler of Newark, New Jersey. San Marco Hotel The San Marco Hotel, opened in 1885, was the main competition to Henry Flagler’s hotels. Henry Flagler and his second wife, Ida Alice Shrouds, spent their honeymoon in this hotel. In part, this beautiful new hotel convinced Flagler that St. Augustine had possibilities. The hotel was unique for St. Augustine in that it sat on twenty acres of land and created its own environment. Mr. Isaac W. Crufts of Boston built the San Marco. Originally a ship builder, Mr. Crufts was an established hotel owner when he built the San Marco. His first hotel was the Maplewood in the White Mountains of New York, and in March 1882, he built the Magnolia Hotel on the St. Johns River near Green Cove Springs. It could be said that Crufts was the “first” person to transform St. Augustine from a backwater town. Four stories high, the San Marco was built on the highest ground in St. Augustine, next to the Castillo de San Marcos. It had a view of the bay, ocean, and surrounding country. The hotel was four stories tall and the towers could be seen 15 miles out in the ocean. There were roughly 275 rooms in 1885 and the hotel could hold about 600 guests. The cost was $2.50 to $6 per day. Corridors extended the entire length of the hotel, with guest rooms on both sides. Guests could use the large elevator, or the stairs to access the upper floors. The office, parlors, reading and writing-rooms occupied most of the first floor. The dining-hall was west of the main hotel and was a large, lofty room with windows on three sides. A theatre was attached to hotel where dances and entertainments were held. The hotel also offered a newsstand, barbershop, billiard room, private docks, and a café in addition to tennis and croquet courts. For a guest at this hotel the week would start with a sacred concert on Sunday evening and end with a card party on Saturday night. One unique opportunity in the hotel was that the guests were able to pick their own vegetables from the hotel garden for their meals. As the competitor to Flagler’s hotels, the San Marco advertisements used “built on natural ground,” “high and dry,” and “large and airy” to capitalize on the Flagler Hotels being built on a former tidal area. Isaac Crufts dies December 31, 1889 . The Hotel does not open for the 1890 season but reopens for the 1891 season. The San Marco Hotel burned to the ground on October 12, 1898 and was not rebuilt. Henry Flagler not only got the vision of St. Augustine’s potential from the San Marco Hotel, but also took McGuire and MacDonald, the builders, and Osborn Seavey, Crufts’ hotel manager, away from the Hotel. The Casa Monica Flagler had some unexpected competition from his associate, Franklin Smith. In arranging the land acquisition, Flagler gave Smith land and the Sunnyside Hotel, which was moved across the street to the site of the Casa Monica Hotel. Flagler encouraged Smith to fix up the Sunnyside, but Smith had much bigger plans – he moved the Sunnyside Hotel and built a 250-room hotel on its site. The beautiful new building was concrete, with less coquina than the Ponce de Leon or the Alcazar. Deep river sand was used, which made the color of the building more dense and uniform than the Ponce de Leon or Alcazar. Advertising for the new hotel focused on its Spanish-Moorish structure, Artesian sulfur baths, French cuisine, and Table d’hote. All of the suites in the Casa Monica were equipped with closets, gaslights, gas heat, and electric bells to call for service. Baths were located on each floor. With its cottages, the hotel could accommodate four hundred guests. Smith had trouble completing the hotel; a plumbers’ strike in January of 1888 sent all the plumbers back to New York (The FloridaError! Bookmark not defined. Times Union, January 7, 1888), and a fire at the Nelson, Matter & Co. factory in Michigan delayed a shipment of furniture. The building opened on January 17, 1888, a week after the Ponce de Leon. The opening was not a success. Smith was plagued by low occupancy and was unable to compete with the Ponce de Leon. The hotel officially opened on January 30, and by March 28 Smith was cutting back expenses by closing off two floors and laying off two or three dozen people. The hotel was sold in April to Henry Flagler for $250,000 On July 16 the name of the hotel was changed to the Hotel Cordova. In the coming years Flagler will keep the manager of the Hotel – E.N. Wilson. However, in the summer of 1889 with the assistance of O. D. Seavey the interior of the hotel is renovated especially the kitchen area. Competition Lost Two sources of competition were lost before the doors of the Ponce de Leon and the Alcazar opened. Hotel St. Augustine was built in 1869 by a partnership of Captain E. E. Vaill, F. H. Palmer, and Dr. Andrew Anderson. T. P House was the architect and builder. The hotel had gaslights, was 200 feet long, three stories high, and contained 80 rooms (140 rooms were added in 1875). In 1884 in Chapin’s Hand Book of St. Augustine by Elias Nason included the following description of the hotel: “…southerly front of 200 feet upon the Plaza and 160 feet on the Bay with wide plazas and hanging balconies from each story overlooking the City, Bay, and Atlantic Ocean. The Dining-Room, Parlors, Billiard-Room, and many of the Sleeping Rooms are elegantly frescoed. It is lighted with gas and provided with water conveniences, electric bells. The dining hall is capable of seating over 300 guests, and the table will be furnished with all the luxuries of the Northern Market.” By 1885 the St. Augustine Hotel had 300 rooms that rented for $4 per day. Captain Vaill (a sea captain from Milton, Conn.) was the sole owner of the Hotel St. Augustine in 1887 when the fire that also destroyed the Cathedral destroyed it. Unfortunately, Captain Vaill had canceled the insurance on the hotel because he thought the rates were too high. Sunnyside Hotel – T. F. House built the Sunnyside Hotel in 1876 on property that had been part of Dr. Anderson’s estate. Originally on the site of the Ponce de Leon, Flagler moved the hotel across the street (to the present site of the Casa Monica) and gave it to Franklin Smith, encouraging him to run the Sunnyside rather than build the Casa Monica. The hotel had a capacity of 40 guests and rented for $2.50 per day. It was renamed “Villula” and “Villa del Sol” by Franklin Smith when it was annexed on December 15, 1886. |
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| Florida House New York Public Library |
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| Magnolia Hotel New York Public Library |
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| Magnolia New Year's Party New York Public Library |
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| St. Augustine Hotel New York Public Library |
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| Sunnyside Hotel New York Public Library |
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| Casa Monica Library of Congress |