The Amazing Lightner Museum

Beautiful is the most concise word I can think of to describe the Lightener Museum. We toured this former hotel converted to a museum and saw amazing furniture, pictures, glassware, architecture and on and on.
The museum is named after the former owner Chicago publisher Otto Lightner who purchased the building in 1946. Formerly the building was originally a hotel built by railroad magnate Henry Flagler. The hotel was named Hotel Alcazar and was built in 1887 in the Spanish Renaissance style by architects Carrere and Hastings. These two architects later designed the New York Public Library and the U.S. Senate office building. Several years the hotel accommodated wealthy vacationers until it closed and Lightner used it to house his extensive collection of Victoriana.
Then he opened the museum two years later and gave the museum to the city of St. Augustine. Filled with amazing antiques that represent Relics of America’s Gilded Age we enjoyed walking through the three floors of antiques and collections.
We ran out of time, but if you can plan to dine at the Café Alcazar located directly behind the museum in the former hotel indoor swimming pool. More information is available at the website http://lightnermuseum.org/main_lightner.html.