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 …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 …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 …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 …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