The Ponce de Leon Hotel was the grandest built in St Augstine, Florida, and in the United States at that time! Erected in 1885-87 by McGuire & McDonald, according to the plans of architects John Carrere & Thomas Hastings, it was the centerpiece of the plan to turn the ancient city into a "Winter Newport" conceived by Standard Oil partner Henry Fagler. Everyone from Mark Twain to Theodore Roosevelt to Somerset Maughm to Babe Ruth stayed there.
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Designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, the Parlors bespoke a sophisticated elegance worthy of these wealthy expected guests. He provided a sumptuous mixture of antique reproductions, in a rococo, gilded, opulent Spanish Rennaissance Revival style. The Austrian crystal chandeliers, the W & J Sloane Artistic carpeting and the "Ladies of Shakesphere" paintings all contributed to the palatial feeling experienced upon arrival.
