Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
St. Augustine, Florida, circa 1890. "Parlors of the Ponce de Leon Hotel." Glass negative by William Henry Jackson. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
The portraits of the women are actually the famed Shakespeare heroines. They were a part of Henry Flagler's private collection. The hotel is now a college and the paints still hang there. Though I don't believe they are in their original locations.
Also there are no ashtrays in the room because this was the parlor for the women.
"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and ridiculous excess."
Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John (Act IV, Scene ii).
A perfect illustration of the term "gild the lily."
The portraits of "exotic beauties" are great, especially the "Spanish" one over the piano. I wonder what became of them? Are they hanging in a private collection, destroyed in a storm or fire? It would be great to see them today.
Not sure I would want to be here at night.
Looks like a good place for ghosts.
What an odd mix of furniture styles, and none of the pieces look very happy about being in the room. A strange atmosphere, somehow.
I used to live near St. Augustine and have been riding past these hotels for years. I always wondered what they looked like in their heyday. Thanks, Dave, for giving us look inside these grand hotels.
You can almost smell the cigar smoke and sea breezes.
Add about four feet of water to this room and you'd be all set!
There is no other word for the elegance of this area.
From the piano stool to the chandelier and then the awesome ceiling treatments.
This was not a hotel for the day-to-day tourist.
WOW!!!
Holy cow.
Motel 6 it ain't.
I don't see a single ash receiver or cuspidor in this room. Highly unusual for an 1890 parlor.
... or everything the International Style rebelled against. European elegance made possible by American industry- with tassels!
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5