Things to do nearHistorical Tours of Flagler College

Flagler College occupies one of the most architecturally significant buildings in the American South, a structure that began its life in 1888 as the Hotel Ponce de León, commissioned by oil and railroad baron Henry Morrison Flagler. Designed by the prominent New York firm of Carrère and Hastings, the building introduced poured concrete construction on a grand scale and set a new standard for resort architecture in the United States. Its Spanish Renaissance Revival style draws on Moorish and Mediterranean influences, expressed through red-clay roof tiles, ornate turrets, and an interior courtyard anchored by a central fountain.

When the college acquired the building in 1968, it preserved the extraordinary original details that now define the tour experience: a dining hall ringed with Tiffany stained-glass windows depicting the four seasons, a rotunda painted with allegorical murals by George W. Maynard, and carved mahogany woodwork throughout the public rooms. Guided tours, typically led by Flagler College students, move through these interiors with informed commentary on both the architectural craftsmanship and the social history of the Gilded Age resort era.

Visitors learn how Flagler's railroad development shaped the entire east coast of Florida and why St. Augustine became a winter destination for America's wealthiest families. The campus grounds themselves, shaded by old oaks and centered on the original hotel's gracious entry sequence, add a quiet, unhurried quality to the visit. For anyone with an interest in American history, architecture, or the outsized personalities that shaped the Sunshine State, a tour of Flagler College offers a rare and genuinely moving encounter with the past.