Friday, November 27, 2009

Flagler Museum Palm Beach, Florida

Today we drove to the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida. We toured the museum then went to Palm Beach for a walk. I saw Bentleys and Rolls-Royce automobiles driving down the road. Definitely a high rent district.

from Wikipedia:

Henry Morrison Flagler Museum 11-27-2009 11-17-56 AM 3264x2448

Flagler Museum, also known as Whitehall, is a 55-room mansion open to the public in Palm Beach, Florida in the United States. The building is listed[4] on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Henry Flagler, one of the founders of Standard Oil, built Whitehall for his wife, Mary Lily Kenan.

The site of the home was purchased for $50,000 in 1893 by Flagler; later surveyed for construction in July 1900 and the home completed in time for Flagler and his wife to move in on February 6, 1902.[5] The architects were Carrère and Hastings. It was a winter residence, and Henry gave it to Mary Lily as a wedding present. They would travel to Palm Beach each year in one of their own private railcars, one of which was No. 91.

After the death of Flagler in 1913 and Mary Lily in 1917, the home was bequeathed to her niece Louise Clisby Wise Lewis, who sold the property to investors. They constructed a 300-room ten story addition to the west side of the building, obliterating Mr. Flagler's offices, the housekeeper's apartment, and altering the original kitchen and pantry area.[5]

In 1959, the site was saved from demolition by one of Henry Flagler's granddaughters Jean Flagler Matthews. She established the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum non-profit corporation which purchased the building in 1959, opening it as a museum in 1960. The upper ten stories of the hotel addition were demolished in 1963 in preparing the museum for the public.[5]

Today, Whitehall is a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public as the Flagler Museum, featuring guided tours, changing exhibits, and special programs. The Museum is located at Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way, Palm Beach.

Architecture

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Interior of the Main Hall,

When it was completed in 1902, Whitehall was hailed by the New York Herald as "more wonderful than any palace in Europe, grander and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world." It was designed in the Beaux Art style; meant to rival the extravagant mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. [6]

Distinct from these northern homes, Whitehall had no outbuildings or subsidiary structures. Nor had it elaborately planned or cultivated gardens. Plants, flowers, trees and shrubs were allowed to grow unaided.[7]

The mansion is built around a large open-air central courtyard and is modeled after palaces in Spain and Italy. Three stories tall with several wings, the mansion has fifty-five fully restored rooms furnished with period pieces. These rooms are large with marble floors, walls and columns, murals on the ceilings, and heavy gilding.[6]

More Photos:

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Painted ceilings in the Grand Hall.

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Library

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the Music Room.

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the Grand Ballroom

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Dining Room.

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the Breakfast Room.

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The Drawing Room.

Then off to Palm Beach

PB275058

PB275059

PB275065

The Breakers Hotel and Resort.

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