The Ponce de Leon Hotel, also known as The Ponce, was an exclusive luxury hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, built by millionaire developer and Standard Oil co-founder Henry M. Flagler and completed in 1888. The hotel was designed in the Spanish Renaissance style as the first major project of the New York architecture firm Carrère & Hastings, which would go on to gain world renown. The hotel was the first of its kind constructed entirely of poured concrete, using the local coquina stone as aggregate. The hotel was also one of the first buildings in the country wired for electricity from the onset, with the power being supplied by DC generators installed by Flagler's friend, Thomas Edison. The original building and grounds of the hotel are today a part of Flagler College. Background Henry Flagler spent the winter of 1882–1883 in St. Augustine where he became interested in the historic city and its potential for a winter resort for wealthy northerners. He was particularly impressed with the poured concrete construction method of the Villa Zorayda, the recently constructed winter home of businessman Franklin Smith. Flagler offered to buy it for his wife, but Smith would not sell it to him. Flagler returned to St. Augustine in 1885 and made Smith an offer. If Smith could raise $50,000, Flagler would invest $150,000 and they would build a hotel together. Smith couldn't come up with the funds, so Flagler began construction of the 540-room Ponce de León Hotel by himself, spending several times his original estimate. Smith helped train the masons on the mixing and pouring techniques he used on the Zorayda. Two years later, Smith would build the Casa Monica Hotel opposite the Ponce de Leon, on land sold to him by Flagler. Design and construction The Ponce de Leon Hotel was built on land that was part of a former orange grove and salt marsh belonging to Dr. Andrew Anderson, owner of the nearby Markland house. Construction began in 1885 by contractors and former New England shipbuilders James McGuire and Joseph McDonald; the building was completed in 1887. Various famed and notable designers, architects, and painters worked on the project. The hotel was designed by the New York architecture firm of John Carrère and Thomas Hastings, as one of their first major projects. Soon after, they would design the New York Public Library in Manhattan. Interior design of the hotel