Lightner Museum
Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Located in the former Alcazar Hotel, the Lightner Museum offers an immersive experience of art, architecture, history, and design, featuring diverse collections from the Gilded Age.
Planning your visit
The Lightner occupies Henry Flagler's Alcazar Hotel, built in 1888 in Spanish Renaissance Revival style as part of the railway magnate's project to turn Florida into a winter resort for the wealthy. It had what was then the largest indoor swimming pool in the world, Turkish baths, a casino and a ballroom. The Depression closed it, and in 1948 the Chicago publisher Otto Lightner bought the empty building to house his collections.
Those collections are Gilded Age accumulation at its most characteristic: cut glass and Tiffany stained glass, Victorian furnishings, mechanical musical instruments demonstrated daily, natural history specimens, ceramics, costume, and cabinets of curiosities in the nineteenth-century manner. Lightner published Hobbies magazine and collected accordingly — broadly and enthusiastically.
The building is much of the appeal. The former pool now holds a café at its base, and the ballroom and bath spaces survive.
St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States, founded 1565. Allow ninety minutes. The main booking is an entry ticket. Current availability is listed below.
Before you book
Where is Lightner Museum?
Lightner Museum is in St. Augustine, United States. The map on this page marks its exact location.
How long should I allow for Lightner Museum?
Allow ninety minutes. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book Lightner Museum in advance?
Tickets can be bought on the door at quiet times, but booking ahead fixes the date and avoids the queue at busy ones. Live availability is shown on this page.
