Villa Zorayda
|
Villa Zorayda
|
|
 |
|
 
|
|
| Location | St. Augustine, Florida |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 29°53′30″N 81°18′54.5″W / 29.89167°N 81.315139°WCoordinates: 29°53′30″N 81°18′54.5″W / 29.89167°N 81.315139°W |
| Architect | Franklin W. Smith |
| Architectural style | Moorish Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 93001002 |
| Added to NRHP | September 23, 1993 |
Villa Zorayda (also known as the Zorayda Castle) is a house at 83 King Street in St. Augustine, Florida. Built in 1883 by the eccentric Boston millionaire Franklin W. Smith as his winter home, it was inspired by the 12th-century Moorish Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. Smith named it '"Villa Zorayda", after one of the princesses in Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra. The building and part of Franklin Smith's art and antique collection were sold to Abraham Mussallem, a rug and antiquities merchant originally from Syria, in 1913. On September 23, 1993, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Villa Zorayda Museum is still owned by the Mussallem family and contains the original art and antique collection assembled by Franklin Smith and Abraham Mussallem.
Franklin W. Smith was an amateur architect and pioneer experimenter in poured concrete construction. His winter home, Villa Zorayda, was the first residence built in the Moorish Revival style in Florida, and the first poured concrete building in St. Augustine. Smith's concrete mix, which used crushed coquina shells as an aggregate, and his method of pouring it in successive levels, was adopted by Henry Morrison Flagler, a Standard Oil partner and Florida developer, for his nearby hotels and churches on an even grander scale. Villa Zorayda could also be considered the first example of fantasy architecture in Florida.
Smith was an early member of the Republican Party, and danced with his wife at Abraham Lincoln's inaugural ball in 1861. He was also a founder of the Boston YMCA, and was involved in many reform efforts and schemes for public improvement in the course of his long life. He is buried in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One block east of Villa Zorayda is the largest building Smith constructed in St. Augustine, the Casa Monica Hotel (later purchased by Henry Flagler and renamed the Cordova Hotel).
...
Wikipedia