St. Augustine, Florida, bears the distinction of being the oldest continuously inhabited city in the continental United States. Its history is both rich and extensive. While Native Americans frequently passed through the region for millennia, the first European settlers arrived at the beginning of the 16th century. The Europeans were Spanish conquistadors led by the famous explorer Juan Ponce de León. Landing along the shoreline in 1513, Juan Ponce de León traveled to the Floridian coast in hopes of discovering the mythological Fountain of Youth. Even though Ponce did not locate his coveted prize, he managed to claim the territory in the name of the joint Spanish monarchs, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

But Spain’s sovereignty over the region was eventually challenged by the French in 1564, who subsequently constructed a massive citadel called Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River. Undeterred, the Spanish Crown sent Pedro Menéndez de Avilés at the head of a massive fleet to destroy the upstart settlement. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés ships first sighted land on August 28, 1565, which coincided with the feast day for St. Augustine of Hippo. They came ashore some 33 miles to the south of Fort Caroline and established their own military outpost. In honor of St. Augustine, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés called the nascent village San Agustín. (St. Augustine was the patron saint of Pedro Menéndez’s hometown of Avilés.)

Menéndez made peace with a local band of the Timucua Indians and billeted his forces inside one of their palisaded communities near Matanzas Bay. From the village, Menéndez and his fellow colonists struck at Fort Caroline, killing nearly all the settlers inside. With the immediate French threat removed from Florida, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés intended for San Agustín to serve as a base for further colonial exploration into the interior. His plans were hampered by French and English pirates and various Native American tribes that were disaffected with the behaviors of the Spanish.

The climax of the hostilities came when Sir Francis Drake successfully sacked San Agustín in 1586. Nevertheless, the colonial settlement endured for decades, as the inhabitants became better at resisting the attacks against their community. In 1672, the local authorities oversaw the construction of the imposing Castillo de San Marco. They hoped it would deter any future assaults on San Agustín by either land or sea. Even though San Agustín remained relatively undeveloped economically, it did manage to attract some settlers from across the world.

Among them were freed blacks who had escaped from the plantations in English—and later British—controlled Georgia and South Carolina. One Spanish colonial governor formally organized a special community of ex-slaves jus to the north of San Agustín to help serve in its defense. The colonial subjects of the two southern most British colonies became Spanish Florida’s most determined enemy. Their residents played a prominent role in the city’s capture during the Seven Years’ War, in which Spain surrendered all of Spanish Florida to the United Kingdom. The British subdivided the territory’s administration, with San Agustín serving as the capital for the newly created Colony of East Florida.

British sovereignty over San Agustín proved brief, as Great Britain was forced to surrender control over Florida back to Spain following its defeat during the American Revolutionary War.

For the next five decades, the city was a Spanish possession. Still, Florida remained a sparsely populated territory largely occupied by bands of Native Americans, as well as small outposts of soldiers in places like San Agustín. The young United States had taken a particular interest in Florida and had worked closely with the Spanish government to obtain its land. American settlers began to illicitly settle the territory, causing border friction with the local Seminole tribe. Some military leaders like General (and future U.S. President) Andrew Jackson conducted illegal invasions to stop the Seminole from attacking those isolated villages. With the kingdom teetering on economic collapse due to the recent Napoleonic Wars, Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821.

Florida became an American territory with General Jackson serving as its first federal governor. San Agustín itself was anglicized to St. Augustine and became a small, important, port city. It no longer served as Florida’s capital, though, as Tallahassee further to north was given that honor. St. Augustine’s imposing costal fortress remained integral to both the city and Florida, as it served as the primary defense mechanism for the region. Renamed as “Fort Marion,” the structure held captive Seminole during the Second Seminole War of 1835 to 1842. It later fell under Confederate occupation in 1861, when Florida—now a state—seceded from the Union at the start of the American Civil War. Since Fort Marion was a federal military installation, local rebel militia cells targeted the ancient citadel early in the conflict. Their time inside the fort was brief, as the U.S. Navy recaptured the facility in March of 1862. It remained under Union rule for the remainder of the war.

When the American Civil War finally came to an end in 1865, Fort Marion started to fall out of use. It was only used three more times during its lifetime, in which the federal government used it to house Plains Indians and Apaches who had resisted the U.S. Army. Its final assignment saw it ironically serve as a prison for captured Spanish soldiers during the Spanish-American War of 1898. By 1900, Fort Marion had been removed from the War Department’s active duty rolls. St. Augustine had long lost its identity as an exclusive military outpost.

During the 1880s, railroad tycoon Henry Flagler and his business partner, John D. Rockefeller, had arrived in St. Augustine. Flagler and Rockefeller had previously joined forces to create the mighty American company Standard Oil. Now, the two wanted to grow their affluence by expanding the nation’s railroad network into the Deep South. They also realized their prospective railroad network could subsidize passenger traffic into Florida, which had a warm tropical climate that many northerners would find appealing in the winter months. As such, Flagler and Rockefeller extended a segment of their Florida East Coast Railway into St. Augustine and immediately began creating several extravagant hotels to incentivize travel along the route.

One of the magnificent buildings that Flagler and Rockefeller developed were the Hotel Alcazar and the Ponce de León Hotel. Flagler himself operated a few additional business ventures on his own, including the Casa Monica Resort & Spa, which operated as the Cordova Hotel at the time. As the 20th century dawned, the City of St. Augustine was among Florida’s most visited holiday destinations. Today, the city continues to maintain that status. Its amazing history is a huge reason why its popularity has persisted. Few cities in the United States can claim to possess such a heritage. Much of St. Augustine’s historical buildings remain intact, with some even recognized by Washington as National Historic Landmarks. Among those structures are the Ponce de León Hotel—currently part of Flagler College—and Fort Marion, which now goes by its original name, the Castillo de San Marco.

When amateur architect William F. Smith first designed the Casa Monica Resort and Spa in 1887, he used a wonderful blend of Moorish Revival and Spanish Baroque architectural styles. Moorish Revival, also referred to as Neo-Moorish, was one of the Revivalist architectural forms from the 19th century that sought to preserve earlier examples of historical architecture. Moorish Revival architecture was one of the first Revivalist styles, emerging throughout western and central Europe in the early 1800s. It reached the United States during the 1830s and became popular shortly after the American Civil War. Moorish Revival-style remained prevalent among Americans at the turn of the century, before disappearing during the Great Depression. While most Revival styles born in the Victorian Era copied earlier Western design aesthetics, Moorish architecture largely borrowed its elements from the Moors of North Africa. Muslims of Berber origin, the Moors had conquered almost all of the Iberian Peninsula by the dawn of the Early Middle Ages.

While their civilization was largely driven out of the region by the 15th century, many aspects of their culture endured for generations. Perhaps one of the Moors greatest legacies in Spain and Portugal were their grand architectural designs. Influenced by Islamic design principles further west in the Middle East, the Moors created brilliant edifices that embraced the concepts of rhythmic linear patterns, vegetative design, and elaborate geometric shapes. A combination of wood, stucco, and tiling—most notably zellij—constituted the buildings materials, although contemporary architects added more modern resources when attempting to emulate the design in the 1800s. One of the greatest components to Moorish buildings involved the horseshoe arch, which consisted of a perfect curve that bulged outward from the base. Furthermore, the Moors decorated their structures with onion-shaped domes that were generally topped with a pointed spire.

Even though the Casa Monica Resort & Spa is celebrated for its Moorish Revival-style architecture, it also contains aspects of Spanish Baroque-themed design aesthetics. Baroque architecture appeared throughout Europe in the early 17th century, with the first examples emerging across the Italian Peninsula. The Catholic Church specifically introduced the form as a means of combating the cultural influences of the Reformation and its various Protestation denominations. Meant to inspire intellect, the architectural style was defined by its ostentatious features that evoke awe and amazement.

It broke from the earlier architectural principles of the Renaissance, only borrowing the period’s use of grand domes and colonnades. Yet, those structures were often made to look extravagant in nature, using their curvaceous qualities to give a sense of undulation to those gazing below. Complex floorplans founded on similar characteristics appeared throughout the space, which made use of circular geometric shapes like the oval to repeat the effect. They were also filled with an array of rich surface treatments, twisting elements, and gilded sculptures. Ceilings in particular displayed grand pieces of artwork in the form of the quadrature or the trompe-l’oeil. When the style finally crossed over the Pyrenees, Spanish architects added their own variations.

At first, the unique Spanish take on Baroque style was simpler due to the influence of architect Juan de Herrera and his refined classicism. But the architecture became increasingly more flamboyant to appeal directly to the senses. This change was faciliated by the Churriguera family, who had initially designed altars and retables for the Catholic Church. Put off by the Herrera’s legacy, the Churrigueras developed a subset of the Baroque movement that increased the decorations on a building’s façade. The most prevalent features on every one of their structures involved the use of the Solomonic column and composite order. In later years, an estipite was added to the design. Celebrated as Churrigueresque, the form appeared prominently in the Spanish cities of Salamanca and Madrid, as well as Spain’s many imperial colonies.

Today, the hotel’s renovated exterior from the corner of Cordova Street has a stately stone column rising to the third story, supporting a circular balcony with a unique doorway built into a corner. From here the two wings of the hotel extend, one down Cordova Street and the other making up the west façade on King St. The lower row of windows is framed by balconies like those found in Seville. This style was designed by Michael Angelo, who called them “kneeling balconies” due to their protruding base which allowed the faithful to kneel during the religious processions of the day. The ground floor of the original 1888 hotel included a ladies-only Writing Room and a Drawing Room, now Reubel’s Jewelry Store and The Coleman Art Gallery, respectively.

Desmond Tutu, South African theologian and renowned anti-apartheid activist.

Reverend C.T. Vivian, civil rights activist and confidant to Martin Luther King Jr.

Juan Carlos I, King of Spain (1975 – 2014)

Sofía, Queen consort of Spain (1975 – 2001) and Princess of Greece and Denmark

Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States (1993 – 2001)

Illegally Yours (1988)