THE HISTORY OF PONCE DE LEON HALL
Flagler College’s Ponce de Leon hall, located at 74 King St, St Augustine, Florida, was built in 1888 by architects John Carrére and Thomas Hastings, who were still new to the field at the time (Horn). The main building of the hall is now used mostly for student housing purposes, but the exterior architectural features and domed lobby space showcase impressive design features and elements of styles that we have covered this semester (Branch). It originally served as a hotel and “luxury resort,” before being converted to collegiate use 47 years ago. Today, the hall is considered a “National Historic Landmark” and “masterpiece” of “Spanish Renaissance architecture” in the 19th century, and boasts many similarities to the other Renaissance revival styles of period. In addition to being the “first major poured-in-place concrete building in the United States,” Ponce de Leon Hall was also “one of the nation’s first electrified buildings,” using the industrial innovations of the “Edison Electric Company [to power] the building” (Horn). The architecture “revealed the aesthetic and technical potentials of modern concrete construction” while also “[recalling] historic coquina-based” techniques and “flamboyant taste” for historicism within the region and era. In the end, the initial “hotel embodied a Beaux-Arts design with Spanish Renaissance-style influence” (Aguilar). Alongside the exterior features, the interior of the hall was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and also features murals by known painters and muralists George Willoughby Maynard and Virgilio Tojetti (Horn). And, while the rest of the building may contain these design elements implemented throughout, the lobby space at the heart of the main building (Figures 1.1 and 1.2) provides some of the best examples of the styles that the hall has to offer. THE EXTERIOR FEATURES The exterior of Ponce de Leon Hall showcases an assortment of elements across various styles that we have looked at this semester. …show more content…
Built primarily in the 19th century revival style of the Spanish Renaissance, the hall shares the style’s influence from Gothic, Romanesque, and other historic sources (“Spanish Architecture Overview”). Similar to the Spanish Renaissance architecture of the past, the exterior of Ponce de Leon hall possesses the typical courtyard-centered organization, ornate portals, carved doorways, lack of ornamentation except around doors and windows, tiles, Italian-influenced facades and features, (Sherman, 139-140) and even a tower, that, in its more current setting commands a level of importance and power through its appeared connection to the past (Figure 2). Breaking up the smooth concrete walls of the exterior are red brick, which adds both a stylistic contrast and mimics the quoins along the corners of Italianate and other Renaissance Revival styles (Figure 3). These details are repeated around the arched windows and doorways, and carried up along the tower, which is also a prominent feature for these antecedents of the Spanish Renaissance. The details of the conical tower roof and the column capitals are reminiscent of Moorish ornamentation, but the projecting roofs with ornamental bracketing and repeating elements already mentioned all show the heavy influence of the Italian Renaissance Revivals on the Spanish architecture (Sherman 387). In the context of when it was constructed, the second half of the 19th century would have been during the prime of the Industrial Revolution. The era brought new building types and techniques, such as the innovative use of poured concrete that marks the building’s construction, but also brought about a returning interest in historicism (1/6/17 Industrial Revolution). Technological progress was only embraced to an extent, with most of the emerging architecture still “[displaying] a distinct historical flavor,” especially with the “revivals of past styles” that tugged on historical imagery, especially through the use of “applied ornament” (Sherman, 304-305). In this building, this can clearly be seen through the influence of the Italianate features used right alongside concrete, new forms of glass, and Industrial-era lighting fixtures, especially within the interior. Additionally, Spanish Colonial and Renaissance …show more content…
The rather straight-forward exterior is contrasted by the carefully detailed and ornamented design of the lobby’s interior (Figure 6), and mixes examples of historicism and industrial innovation to create a prime example of the social and cultural turmoil and variations of design following the Industrial Revolution and the later 19th century. Altogether, a memorable and innovative experience is
Flagler College’s Ponce de Leon hall, located at 74 King St, St Augustine, Florida, was built in 1888 by architects John Carrére and Thomas Hastings, who were still new to the field at the time (Horn). The main building of the hall is now used mostly for student housing purposes, but the exterior architectural features and domed lobby space showcase impressive design features and elements of styles that we have covered this semester (Branch). It originally served as a hotel and “luxury resort,” before being converted to collegiate use 47 years ago. Today, the hall is considered a “National Historic Landmark” and “masterpiece” of “Spanish Renaissance architecture” in the 19th century, and boasts many similarities to the other Renaissance revival styles of period. In addition to being the “first major poured-in-place concrete building in the United States,” Ponce de Leon Hall was also “one of the nation’s first electrified buildings,” using the industrial innovations of the “Edison Electric Company [to power] the building” (Horn). The architecture “revealed the aesthetic and technical potentials of modern concrete construction” while also “[recalling] historic coquina-based” techniques and “flamboyant taste” for historicism within the region and era. In the end, the initial “hotel embodied a Beaux-Arts design with Spanish Renaissance-style influence” (Aguilar). Alongside the exterior features, the interior of the hall was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and also features murals by known painters and muralists George Willoughby Maynard and Virgilio Tojetti (Horn). And, while the rest of the building may contain these design elements implemented throughout, the lobby space at the heart of the main building (Figures 1.1 and 1.2) provides some of the best examples of the styles that the hall has to offer. THE EXTERIOR FEATURES The exterior of Ponce de Leon Hall showcases an assortment of elements across various styles that we have looked at this semester. …show more content…
Built primarily in the 19th century revival style of the Spanish Renaissance, the hall shares the style’s influence from Gothic, Romanesque, and other historic sources (“Spanish Architecture Overview”). Similar to the Spanish Renaissance architecture of the past, the exterior of Ponce de Leon hall possesses the typical courtyard-centered organization, ornate portals, carved doorways, lack of ornamentation except around doors and windows, tiles, Italian-influenced facades and features, (Sherman, 139-140) and even a tower, that, in its more current setting commands a level of importance and power through its appeared connection to the past (Figure 2). Breaking up the smooth concrete walls of the exterior are red brick, which adds both a stylistic contrast and mimics the quoins along the corners of Italianate and other Renaissance Revival styles (Figure 3). These details are repeated around the arched windows and doorways, and carried up along the tower, which is also a prominent feature for these antecedents of the Spanish Renaissance. The details of the conical tower roof and the column capitals are reminiscent of Moorish ornamentation, but the projecting roofs with ornamental bracketing and repeating elements already mentioned all show the heavy influence of the Italian Renaissance Revivals on the Spanish architecture (Sherman 387). In the context of when it was constructed, the second half of the 19th century would have been during the prime of the Industrial Revolution. The era brought new building types and techniques, such as the innovative use of poured concrete that marks the building’s construction, but also brought about a returning interest in historicism (1/6/17 Industrial Revolution). Technological progress was only embraced to an extent, with most of the emerging architecture still “[displaying] a distinct historical flavor,” especially with the “revivals of past styles” that tugged on historical imagery, especially through the use of “applied ornament” (Sherman, 304-305). In this building, this can clearly be seen through the influence of the Italianate features used right alongside concrete, new forms of glass, and Industrial-era lighting fixtures, especially within the interior. Additionally, Spanish Colonial and Renaissance …show more content…
The rather straight-forward exterior is contrasted by the carefully detailed and ornamented design of the lobby’s interior (Figure 6), and mixes examples of historicism and industrial innovation to create a prime example of the social and cultural turmoil and variations of design following the Industrial Revolution and the later 19th century. Altogether, a memorable and innovative experience is