The Most Famous Hoteliers of All Time, vol. 1

WRITTEN BY

Robert Woliński

COVER DESIGN BY

Robert Woliński

TRANSLATED BY

Joanna Zahorska

Copyright © Robert Woliński, First Edition 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN: 978–83–961389–2–7

TYPESETTING AND TEXT MAKEUP

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Table of contents

Foreword

Johannes Baur | The pioneer of professional hotelkeeping

Henry Flagler | The builder of hotels in Florida

Foreword

My adventure with the history of the hotel industry started back in 2003, when as a hotel manager with ten years’ of experience I wrote my first article on Kemmons Wilson – the founder of the Holiday Inn brand. It was published in a Polish hotel magazine called Hotelarz under the title of Rewolucyjna podróż (A Revolutionary Journey). Back then, the Polish publishing market did not offer any books about prominent figures of the lodging industry. To fill this gap, I started exploring the Internet and ferreting out all the information on hotelkeepers from different eras and parts of the world, analyzing their contribution to the growth of this profession and the entire hospitality industry. As a result, subsequently, biographies of Ernest Henderson, Ellsworth Statler, Charles Forte and John Willard Marriott were forged.

Eventually, I arrived at the idea of enriching these previous loose articles with more characters that would be then combined into a single comprehensive book. Originally, I intended to present biographies of sixteen famous hoteliers; however, the volume of my work grew progressively reaching up to thirty-six chapters. The ultimate version of the book, which I have titled The Most Famous Hoteliers Of All Time, took nearly fifteen years to write. Although in the course of this process I stopped working in the hotel business, the subject of this study has become my passion. A passion I have given my all heart to by dedicating lots of time to explore it. I wanted to create a valuable compendium of knowledge that would be factually correct, with every mentioned fact backed by a reliable source. Throughout those years, I have collected and read tens of books in foreign languages and thousands of online articles, including many digitalized press excerpts dating as far back as to the first half of the 20th century. Some of the previously written chapters had to be corrected later on after I encountered other significant information or when some of the protagonists passed away. All these efforts allowed me to hone my study to the minutest detail.

Since December 2021, the printed version of the book in Polish Najsławniejsi hotelarze wszech czasów has been available on sale. The release was financed using my own resources exclusively, without the help of any publishing company. Owing to the power of social media and word-of-mouth publicity, the entire first issue sold out within only three months. Good reviews provided mainly by people in the industry encouraged me to take up further steps to promote the knowledge about the illustrious hoteliers around the world. Up until now, Americans used to write about American hotelkeepers only, whereas the Swiss used to write about the Swiss ones; however, now, a Polish man decided to bring together all the stories and achievements of hoteliers of various nationalities in the form of one comprehensive study.

The digital English version of The Most Famous Hoteliers Of All Time comprises two volumes arranged into thirty-six chapters that unravel incredible stories of forty-one hotelkeepers. Among them, one can find builders, constructors, developers, hotel owners and managers, chefs and maîtres d’hôtel, as well as creators of new concepts, hotel brands and entire hotel chains. The study explains the origins of hospitality companies and hotel chains, such as Ritz, Hilton, Marriott, Radisson, Holiday Inn, Oberoi, Sheraton, Accor, Four Seasons, Days Inn, Residence Inn, Howard Johnson’s, Hyatt, Best Western, Trust Houses Forte and many more. Much space has been given to the true pioneers of the trade who have long been forgotten yet had an immense impact on the development of professional hotelkeeping. They raised exceptional buildings in difficult-to-access locations, ran them most skillfully and introduced innovative ideas and standards that are employed to this day, but most of all, they provided travelers with hotel services of good quality. These prominent figures undoubtedly improved the professional status of hoteliers and enhanced the prestige of the industry. I would like the publication The Most Famous Hoteliers Of All Time to serve as a tribute to the legends of the hotel trade worldwide who went down in history. For this reason, I dedicate this unique compendium of knowledge to all hoteliers around the globe eager to explore the roots of their profession and the standards that have been implemented in the industry over the years.

Robert Woliński

P.S. I do realize that my choice of protagonists is based on a subjective judgment and that many believe there are other hoteliers who also deserve a place in the pantheon of hotelkeeping legends. I fully agree with this view, particularly given that the factual resources that I have collected could easily provide the content for more volumes of this book. Will there be the third and fourth tomes of The Most Famous Hoteliers Of All Time? Time will tell.

1

Johannes Baur

The pioneer of professional hotelkeeping

The opening of his first hotel in 1838 became a historical harbinger of the shift from traditional inns and guest houses to modern-day hotels. Some consider Johannes Baur the pioneer of professional hotelkeeping. This is because he initiated a new generation of Swiss hoteliers exceptionally skilled at managing newly built large accommodation facilities that became famous across the entire Europe.

Johannes Baur, 1795–1865
(Source: Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek)

Johannes Baur was born on December 13, 1795, in Götzis located in the Austrian region of Vorarlberg.1 He was the son of a customs official who, at the same time, served as the mayor of that city, and also ran a small hostelry called the Lion Inn.2 Young Johannes completed his baking apprenticeship and in 1820, he emigrated to Switzerland, where six years later he was granted the citizenship of that country. In 1828, he married Anne Knechtli, and in 1832, he opened an inn called Zum Kirschbaum (“Cherry Tree”) on Marktgasse in Zürich, which he ran together with the confectioner David Sprüngli.3 In 1837, he purchased a building of an old rectory situated right next to the most important post office in the city, and he founded there Café Baur. However, he was more passionate about architecture and building design than about the culinary arts. In that time, the conservative city council of Zürich was unseated by the victorious democrats and liberals who decided on changing development plans for the downtown area. As a result, the city’s 17th-century fortifications, defensive walls and watchtowers were demolished, thus allowing space for the execution of the vision of a modern city that would be well-connected with the entire region. By the summer of 1836, at least 500 new buildings had been erected in Zürich. One of the plots of land on Neumarkt was acquired by Baur, who undertook to raise an edifice whose style would harmonize with the new post office building erected vis-à-vis.4

Johannes Baur already had a plan. He had a feeling that the business of travel would blossom to undreamed-of dimensions; that horse-drawn coaches would soon be replaced by the steam locomotive, thus considerably shortening travel time, and people would discover the pleasure of mobility. Furthermore, there were already several guest houses operating in Zürich at that time; however, the conditions they provided to travelers were far from convenient and luxurious. Certain that guests’ expectations would soon change, Baur decided to build an extravagant hotel that would set new standards. The project of the neoclassic building with its façade in Ionic order was created in cooperation with his friend, talented young architect Daniel Pfister. Hotel Baur en Ville was opened on December 24, 1838, with a lavish banquet thrown in honor of this occasion for post office workers and the staff in the grand restaurant.5 Soon after, Johannes put full-page advertisements in foreign press. For instance, in the German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine, he informed his prospective guests, “Vouching for the best and most elegant of service, I hereby take upon myself the honor of cordially inviting all domestic and foreign travelers to [the Hotel Baur]. I undertake to do everything in my power to satisfy the needs of personages of whatsoever rank in my establishment.”6 Indeed, the hotel had no match. Not only due to its unprecedented enormous size and capacity that no other lodging facility could compete with at that time, but also due to its technical innovations, such as an elevator used for transporting meals up to the highest hotel floors. The Baur en Ville comprised rooms with 140 beds, a restaurant, two dining areas, ten extravagant boudoirs and a stable for 36 to 40 horses.7 Johannes Baur hit the bull’s-eye. His hotel earned high acclaim among guests from the top social circles looking for a highly intimate place for rest. Baur identified their needs perfectly and took great care to fulfil their wishes, ensuring an exceptional ambiance. His establishment was visited by, among others, German general Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck, the owner of Creditanstalt Bank Anselm von Rothschild, and composers Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Franz Liszt.8

Baur en Ville on Neumarkt is the first Grand Hotel in Zurich. (Source: Hotel Baur au Lac Hotel)

The success of the Baur en Ville encouraged him to make further bold moves. It turned out that the city put another plot of land on sale – this time, it was located on the very shore of Lake Zürich, in the place of a former military port. Without a second thought, Baur acquired it with the intent to establish another hotel of a similar class there. The task of designing this building, whose original size was reminiscent more of a bigger villa, was assigned to architect Johannes Jacob Keller.9 In 1844, the structure christened as the Baur au Lac started receiving guests. However, citizens of Zürich were greatly surprised that, in contrast to the prevailing custom, the façade of the building with six balconies was facing away from the downtown, and toward the lake and the distant Alps. Not only did Baur want to ensure that his guests would enjoy magnificent views from room windows, but also guarantee complete privacy to everyone who preferred traveling incognito.10 What according to many observers was meant to become the nail in the coffin turned out to be his signature style appreciated by the visitors. The entire European aristocracy and wealthy classes flocked first and foremost to the Baur au Lac, and not to Zürich. The uniqueness of that place was described in, among others, a two-page article “The Beautification of Zurich” published in the Leipzig newspaper Illustrierte Zeitung. One of its editors arrived at the Baur au Lac ten years after the opening of the hotel during his long journey across Switzerland; upon his return, he put his impressions of the sojourn at the hotel down on paper. “Mr. Baur’s art has gone to great lengths to compete with Nature itself, which lavishly unfolds all its manifold charms in this sublime place. The outward appearance of the hotel promises much, much indeed. On entering the interior and perusing the luxuriant salons and bedrooms, however, one is overwhelmed to find all one’s expectations surpassed.”11

The democratic changes that took place in 1848 and the charm of mountain resorts attracted numerous foreign tourists to Switzerland. Zürich was a popular stopover. Back then, the success of Baur au Lac was already reflected in its high revenues. This allowed Johannes Baur to first swiftly satisfy his creditors, and then gradually expand the hotel building outwards. The first extension works took place in 1853, whereas in 1898, the second wing was opened and the building attained to its present-day dimensions (after its initiator’s death). He also added to the Baur en Ville a restaurant called Café Orsini.

Hotel Baur au Lac opened in 1844 remains the property of the Baur family. (Source: Hotel Baur au Lac)

In the first years, the high acclaim earned by the Baur au Lac reached also the courts of European monarchs. In 1852, King of Sweden and Norway Oscar I stopped there with his family as Count Tullgarn. Four years later, it was visited by Duchess of Orléans Helene Luise Elisabeth. King Ludwig I of Bavaria house Wittelsbach stayed there twice, in 1862 and in 1863, whereas in 1867, Empress of Austria Elisabeth (Sisi) spent the entire summer at the Baur au Lac with two princes and an entourage of sixty people. Over the years that followed, it also hosted, among others, the Russian Tsarina, the King of Egypt, German Emperor Wilhelm II, the Princess of Wales, and the Emperor of Ethiopia. However, it was not only crowned heads who would come to the Zürich hotel, as it was also patronized by artists, scientists, industrialists, diplomats, and other wealthier tourists. In 1856, within the walls of Baur au Lac the premiere of the first act of Richard Wagner’s opera The Valkyrie was held. On November 10, 1859, in the ballroom Petit Palais, representatives of the Austrian Empire, the French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia signed the Treaty of Zürich, which put an end to a war between these states. In 1892, at this very establishment, Baroness Bertha von Suttner convinced Alfred Nobel to fund the peace prize.12

In 1852, Johannes Baur backed out from the business and handed the management of the Baur au Lac over to his twenty-four-year-old son Theodor (1828–1904).13 He threw himself into vegetable gardening, which provided produce for both hotels. Seven years later, they were both made honorary citizens of Zürich in recognition of contribution to the improvement of the architectural beauty of the city and the frequency of foreign visitors. Johannes died in Zürich on November 24, 1865.14

The hotel business was Theodor Baur’s element, as water is that of fishes. Managed in the most thorough manner, both hotels successfully maintained under his direction the position of the best luxury hotels in Switzerland. The hotelier undertook many different initiatives to make services more efficient and to ‘enchant’ his guests. In 1852, Baur au Lac became the first hotel in the world to introduce a telegraph office. In turn, in 1888, the building was electrified and a hydraulic elevator was installed in it. Furthermore, in 1868, Theodor Baur began organizing concerts on lake steamers. He also paid much attention to vocational training. For this reason, among other things, he sold hotel Baur en Ville, and used the money that he made to support one of the influential members of the Swiss Hotel Association Jacques Tschumi in the founding of the world’s first hotelier school in Lausanne in 1893.15

In 1889, the name of the owner of Baur au Lac changed, although it still remained in the hands of the family. At that time, following in the footsteps of his father, Theodor Baur gave the building over to his daughter Emmy and her husband Carl Kracht. He himself moved to his farmstead Uetliberg, where he engaged in farming until his death in 1904.

Carl Kracht was already experienced in the trade, since after the death of his father, Friedrich, he was managing chic Hotel Ernst (later called Excelsior Hotel Ernst) in Cologne, Germany, together with his mother. Carl died in 1914 and the Baur au Lac became the property of his sons Fritz and Hermann. Likewise, the hotel was handed down from generation to generation. Its subsequent owners were Hermann’s son Charles Kracht (died in 1990) and, until present, Charles’ children Andrea Kracht and Gabrielle Feldhahn-Kracht.16

The Baur au Lac is one of the oldest luxury hotels in the world that remains in the hands of its founder’s family. In the 1990s, it underwent a general modernization on an unprecedented scale in the history of the Swiss hotel industry for that time. Likewise, the other hotel built by Johannes operates to this day under the name of Savoy Baur de Ville.

2

Henry Flagler

The builder of hotels in Florida

The founder of Standard Oil – one of the world’s most profitable corporations of the 19th century, this American entrepreneur decided to become involved in entirely different lines of business in a faraway, inaccessible place. Henry Flagler has become a symbol of Florida, contributing to the state’s tourism development. In locations reached by his railway, he helped raise cities and built hotels, bringing in rich guests. However, were the luxury hotels that operated only for three months a year actually profitable or were they just an expensive whim of the eccentric millionaire?

Henry Flagler, 1830–1913 (Source: Henry Morrison Flagler Museum)

Henry Morrison Flagler was born on January 2, 1830, in Hopewell, New York, to Isaac Flagler, a Presbyterian itinerant minister, and Elizabeth Caldwell Harkness. As both his parents were previously married and widowed, Henry had four step-siblings, specifically, three half-sisters (on his father’s side) and a half-brother named Daniel (son of Elizabeth and David Harkness). Later, his yet another sister was born. In 1836, the Flaglers settled in Toledo, Ohio, where Isaac threw himself into a movement supporting alcohol abstinence and racial equality. Sadly, two years later, the Flaglers separated and Elizabeth relocated to Rock Hill, New York, taking Henry and the youngest daughter with her.

At the age of fourteen, Henry Flagler left school upon completing the eighth grade and moved to Republic, Ohio, where he joined his half-brother Daniel. There, the two boys worked in the grain store of L.G. Harkness & Company, a property of Daniel’s uncle Lamon Harkness. Initially, young Henry was performing the simplest jobs for five bucks a month, accommodation and board included. Over time, the scope of his responsibilities was expanded and the increase in salary followed. Five years later, as an already experienced clerk, he was earning 400 dollars a month. In 1952, Flagler moved to Bellevue, Ohio, where by means of acquiring shares in the Chapman, Harkness & Company liquor factory he became a business associate of Daniel and Lamon once the enterprise had been converted into Harkness & Company.1 There, he met his boss’ daughter Mary Harkness, whom he married on November 9, 1853. They had three children, namely, daughters Jennie Louise (1855–1889) and Carrie (1858–1861), and son Harry (1870–1952).

Flagler invested 50 thousand dollars that he made on the distillery and just as much money borrowed from his father-in-law in yet another business. In 1862, together with his brother-in-law Barney York, he launched Flagler & York Salt Company in Saginaw, Michigan. Unfortunately, with the end of the Civil War in 1865, the demand for salt dropped drastically, leaving the company bankrupt. Henry returned to Bellevue and started selling grain and agricultural tools again to pay the debt. Nonetheless, in the very next year, he relocated to Cleveland – the leading center of oil refining industry sprouting in America. Cleveland was the place that get-rich-quick seekers of the ‘black gold’ flocked to. Numerous enterprises handling crude oil extraction and refinery were founded there, and Flagler started selling them barrels. Meanwhile, his acquaintance from the grain industry named John D. Rockefeller together with a chemist Samuel Andrews were rendering services to the biggest refinery in the area. Since they needed a larger sum for expanding their own business, they invited Flager and his other half-brother Stephen V. Harkness (son of David Harkness from the first marriage) to cooperation as a silent partner. As a result, in 1867 the Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler partnership started operating, refining petroleum into kerosene that was used back then as a fuel in lighting devices.

Flagler and Rockefeller became not only business associates, but also close friends. They lived next to each other, shared an office, and walked to work together, discussing on their way current business activities and plans for the future. Together, they developed several innovative business practices that gave their company a cost advantage over their competitors. They filled tight, five-gallon cans that they designed themselves and that could later be reused by their clients with kerosene. They were efficiently managing all kinds of by-products. When other companies were letting gasoline to rivers as a useless waste, they employed it to power machinery.2 They also negotiated considerably lower costs with Lake Shore and Michigan Central Railroad for transporting crude oil from their refinery. These moves allowed the Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler partnership to reduce prices of their own raw material to the point that their competitors in Cleveland could not outdo them.3 Flagler & Co. was purchasing collapsing oil refining companies one after another, and once their business attained a considerable size, they decided to reorganize it into a joint-stock corporation. On January 10, 1870, the Standard Oil Company was founded. The development of this business strategy is attributed to Flagler. Asked whether the birth of Standard Oil sprouted in his head, John D. Rockefeller replied, “No, sir. I wish I had the brains to think of it. It was Henry M. Flagler.”4

Standard Oil Company consistently implemented the policy of cutting crude oil refining costs by buying the oil directly from manufacturers, creating the corporation’s own warehouses, negotiating rates with railroads in other parts of the country, as well as by acquiring oil pipelines and building its own. In the course of only two years, it became the leader of America’s petroleum industry, producing as many as ten thousand barrels a day. In 1878, it already controlled most refineries in the country, thus monopolizing the market and bringing a fortune to its owners. Holding the majority of its shares, John D. Rockefeller became the richest man in America.

After the corporation moved its headquarters to New York City in 1877, the Flaglers lived on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Previously diagnosed with tuberculosis, Mary Flagler saw her health deteriorate in that period. Since doctors recommended that she relocated to a warmer climate, in the winter of 1878, Henry decided to take his wife to Florida. At that time, only the north-eastern coast of the state was inhabited. The rest of its territory, the two-thirds of which was covered in dense forests with a multitude of marshes and lakes, remained wild and inaccessible. Hence, due to the lack of land traffic routes (roads and railroads), people were virtually incapable of traveling south the state.

The couple rested in Jacksonville, but also took a one-day trip to the town of St. Augustine located 40 miles south. However, they were not positively impressed by that place. “I came here from Jacksonville by way of the river and the Tocoi railway and got here just at night. The accommodation was very bad and most of the visitors here were consumptives. I didn’t like it, and took the first train back to Jacksonville,” Flagler recalled later.5 After a several-week-long stay in Florida, the Flaglers returned to New York and Henry threw himself into his work at Standard Oil right away. Sadly, Mary’s disease gradually progressed, leading to her death on May 18, 1881.

Flagler had to reevaluate his personal and professional life. In order to dedicate more time to the children, he would visit his office less and less frequently. When he founded Standard Oil Trust together with Rockefeller and seven other associates on January 2, 1882, he kept his position in the board of directors, but he assigned the management of current operations of the corporation to lower staff. He also dedicated himself to an entirely new project by investing money in Henry Plant’s business – Plant Investment Company. PICO built railroad infrastructure in central and eastern Florida. In 1883, Henry Flagler re-married. His chosen one was Ida Alice Shourds, a nurse and his late wife’s caregiver, eighteen years his junior. Six months later, the couple left for St. Augustine, Florida, to enjoy a late honeymoon. The town had changed since Flagler had seen it for the first time. Although large, high-standard hotels were still nonexistent there, more and more often, the sick were outnumbered by well-off tourists. The Flaglers returned there two more times – each time in winter months. In February 1885, they stayed in a brand new six-story hotel San Marco with 275 comfortable rooms, a property of Isaac W. Crufts. They stayed there until March, when local residents of St. Augustine celebrated yet another anniversary of Florida’s discovery by Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish conquistador, member of Columbus’s second expedition and the first Governor of Borriquen Island (today’s Porto Rico), in 1513. Seeing the high tourist potential and great enthusiasm of the locals, Flagler wanted to help this small town grow. He decided to first set up a hotel there and to name it Ponce de Leon.6 However, in order for his hotel endeavor to be successful, in the same year, on December 31, 1885, he purchased the local Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Halifax River Railway. It was the beginning of Flagler’s greatest business project – Florida East Coast Railway.7

Reflecting on the concept of Hotel Ponce de Leon, Henry Flagler first asked himself, “Here was St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. How to build a hotel to meet the requirements of nineteenth century America and have it in keeping with the character of the place (…).”8 Next, he tasked two young architects from New York, John M. Carrere and Thomas Hastings, with the designing of a structure in Spanish Renaissance style. The construction plans involved the use of concrete pouring technology whereby a mixture of cement, sand and a local aggregate was applied, a solution unprecedented on a national scale. The first shovel was planted into the soil on the five-acre-large plot on King Street on December 1, 1885. Gradually, the structure of a vast symmetrical building with only four stories was formed. Twin towers grew above the hotel, holding massive, eight-thousand gallon tanks intended to ensure running water for the guests. Beyond the front gate, there was a beautifully landscaped interior court with lush greenery, an enormous fountain and a grand entrance to the rotunda. The hotel interiors were arranged just as lavishly by world-famous artists. The task of designing furniture was assigned to August Pottier and William P. Stymus. Stained glass, mosaics and lamps were created by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The murals on the walls in the rotunda and in the restaurant were conjured up by George W. Maynard, whereas the paintings on the ceiling in the Grand Parlor were authored by the famous Virgilio Tojetti. Henry Flagler did not care for the costs, as Standard Oil ensured a continuous flow of cash. The facility was finally completed on May 1, 1887, with the total cost of 2.5 million dollars, furnishings included. The official opening with great fanfare did not take place until January 10, 1888. Hotel Ponce de Leon offered 540 rooms, restaurants, private parlors, game rooms and reading rooms. At that time, public bathrooms were a standard, while the only private bathroom was located in Flagler’s apartment. Nonetheless, soon after the opening, it was decided that bathrooms should be added to the hotel rooms (in 1894, there were fifty rooms with private bathrooms). Since the very beginning, the hotel has been hailed as a marvel not only for its architecture, but also because of the applied engineering solutions. It was completely electrified with electricity supplied by generators provided by Thomas Edison. Since for many guests, light bulbs were a complete novelty, Flagler hired extra staff to operate light switches. What is more, the hotel could use steam for heating the rooms, which seemed an odd solution in that climate zone, though.9 The matters of employment and management of the establishment were handled by an experienced hotel man Osborn Dunlap Seavey. In the course of the first five years, the Ponce de Leon was the most exclusive winter palace in the United States, drawing up serious crowds. It was with them in mind that cultural and entertainment events were organized, such as costume balls, musicals and theatrical performances, while all the information on this subject was announced in a dedicated bulletin called Tatler distributed among the sojourners.

Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine (Source: Shorpy)

Before the launch of the Ponce de Leon, Henry Flagler decided to build another hotel in St. Augustine targeted at a less wealthy clientele. He hired the Carrere-Hastings again to design Hotel Alcazar (meaning “royal castle” in Arabic), which was to sit across King Street. Yet again, the architecture was modelled on Spanish Renaissance style with a structure resembling a fortress with two towers, four-story high, and a characteristic layout of residential and utility rooms organized around the interior court with arcades. Prior to the commencement of the actual construction works, a team of workers from the McGuire & McDonald Company had to first clear the site by removing the Olivet Methodist Church and demolishing the San Marco roller-skating rink building. In May 1887, the first foundations were poured, and on December 25, 1888, the Alcazar welcomed its first guests. The 300-room hotel was less expensive than the Ponce de Leon and operated from December to April. On February 22, 1889, the recreational part called Casino was put into service, housing a luxurious glass roofed swimming pool (measuring 120 feet by 50 feet, and up to 12 feet deep), Turkish and Russian baths, a gymnasium, massage rooms, a bowling alley, a billiard room, and a three-story ballroom. The Alcazar strongly advertised its spa zone, stating that bathing serves as panacea for diseases affecting the heart, kidneys and the liver, as well as for rheumatism, arthritis, neurasthenia and obesity.

It was quite surprising for the residents of St. Augustine that in April 1888, Henry Flagler purchased a brand-new Hotel Casa Monica located on Cordova Street. The edifice, built by a Bostonian merchant and amateur architect Franklin W. Smith (as a side note, on a plot of land acquired from Flagler in 1887), combined features characteristic of Spanish Baroque Revival and the Moorish Revival style. This impressive, five-story building stood out with its almost hundred-feet-tall towers in every corner, numerous balconies, decorative balustrades, cornices and arcs.10 Smith opened the 138-room Casa Monica on January 1, 1888. Sadly, soon after, he ran into financial trouble and sold it to Flagler after only four months of operation. The purchase was for 325 thousand dollars and covered the building along with complete furnishing. Flagler changed its name to Hotel Cordova and filled it with guests. In 1902, he connected the Cordova to the Hotel Alcazar with a bridge over the street, and renamed it the Alcazar Annex. From then on, the two buildings were considered a single hotel that was advertised as “enlarged and redecorated”. The Ponce de Leon, the Alcazar and the Cordova were consolidated into a group called the Flager System. They all complemented each other perfectly, which allowed them to organize renowned balls, tennis and golf tournaments, swimming exhibitions and equestrian shows.

At that time, Henry Flagler’s property in St. Augustine included three luxury hotels and a railroad that brought tourists to the city. Fascinated by that place, some of the visitors went as far as to purchase land and settle there. St. Augustine grew dynamically with Flagler’s active participation. He would invest his own money in public infrastructure: the city hall, the train station, the modern hospital, churches and schools. He provided funding for the electrification of the city, street paving and the creation of a sewage system. In turn, for himself and his wife, he erected a grand villa at the intersection of Valencia Street, Ribera Street and Carrera Street, which he then named the Kirkside. Unfortunately, in 1889, Flagler experienced also a personal tragedy – on March 25, a few days after childbirth, his beloved daughter Jennie Louise passed away. It was in her honor that the Memorial Presbyterian Church was built.

From 1888, Henry Flagler consistently invested in the development of railroads in Florida. He purchased new cars, added locomotives, modernized tracks to adapt them to the standard gauge and fitted them with wire mesh fencing against wild animals. In order to eliminate time-consuming ferry crossing of St. Johns River in Jacksonville, he erected a long bridge with a steel structure, thus providing a direct railroad connection to St. Augustine. Flagler got interested in other existing railroads, too. He purchased two of them, namely, the St. Johns Railway (from St. Augustine to Tocoi) and the St. Augustine & Palatka Railway (from Tocoi to East Palatka) from a New York millionaire William Astor. He acquired the third one, the St. Johns & Halifax River Railway, which connected East Palatka and Daytona, from Cullen White, a Wall Street financier.11 He consolidated his entire railroad business intone holding – Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian River Railway. At the same time, Henry Flagler continued to expand his hotel base and in 1890, he purchased Hotel Ormond located in Ormond Beach near Daytona. This 75-room establishment constructed by John Anderson and Joseph Price opened on January 1, 1888. Over the years that followed, three new wings were added to the building, the number of rooms was increased to four hundred, elevators were installed, and a salt-water swimming pool and a 18-hole golf course were built.12 Hotel Ormond soon became a place of rest and play for the rich and famous.

When at the beginning of 1892, the owners of the lands south of Daytona submitted a petition to expand the railroad another 80 miles further south, Flagler’s company launched a practice of laying down its own brand-new tracks. This investment was additionally motivated by the takeover of eight thousand acres of land provided by the state authorities for every mile of the track. Flagler’s railroad grew dynamically on the eastern coast of Florida, reaching one settlement after another (New Smyrna in November 1892, Rockledge in February 1893, Eau Gallie in June 1893), to ultimately extend as far as to Fort Pierce in January 1894. At that time, the railroad was 242 miles long from Jacksonville. Two months later, on April 2, the work on the tracks was halted in an area that later became Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Henry Flagler arrived there much earlier with an intent to personally penetrate the palm-covered island situated on the opposite shore of Lake Worth. Back then, it was inhabited only by twenty families; however, mesmerized by the heavenly landscape, Flagler was convinced that many other visitors would fall in love in that place, too. He himself purchased quite a big plot of land for 45 thousand dollars and on May 1, 1893, he started building there a luxury hotel named the Royal Poinciana. Since his railroad had not reached that point at that time, all construction materials were transported by a steamboat from Eau Gallie down the Indian River to Jupiter, and then shipped eight miles by the Jupiter & Lake Worth Railroad to Juno, and then loaded again onto a boat sailing to Lake Worth.13 In contrast to the previous hotels made of concrete, the structure in Palm Beach was made mainly of wood. The workforce consisted primarily of black men taken from the Bahamas who lived in dedicated camps in spartan conditions. The Royal Poinciana received its first seventeen guests on February 11, 1894. The Georgian-style structure housed 439 rooms on six stories. The interiors were designed most tastefully and with the utmost care. The price range for a room was from six dollars up to one hundred dollars per night. The hotel operated in the winter season from December to March. It soon became so popular that Flagler doubled its capacity twice, in 1899 and in 1901. With the final number of rooms set at 1081 and the capacity of two thousand sojourners, it became the world’s grandest hotel. The wealthy were taken there on Pullman’s private railroad cars that stopped directly at the entrance to the establishment. Its central point was a rotunda with three-mile-long corridors, requiring the staff who delivered messages from the rooms to the reception area to use bicycles. The Royal Poinciana had 1.4 thousand employees. It had its own power generator, a bakery, an ice cream parlor, a laundry room and a post office. It housed an enormous restaurant with 1.6 thousand seats, a private club with a game room called the Beach Club and Casino Colonial Bradley’s, a drawing room, parlors, Ask Mr. Foster travel agency, and numerous outlets, including the Burkhardt Brothers, which sold fruit and oysters, or the Anthony Brothers, a store offering clothes for men. The hotel guests were guaranteed to enjoy countless amusements. They could partake in strolls, balls, play golf or tennis, relax in sulfur-water pools or ocean-water pools, take sailing or motorboat trips, fish in the ocean, take a ride on bicycles, pedicabs with wicker chairs called “Afrimobiles” or mule-drawn carriages to the beach and back.

Two years after the opening of the Royal Poinciana, Henry Flagler built his second hotel in Palm Beach. Situated right on a beach by the Atlantic Ocean, it started operating precisely on January 16, 1896 under the name the Palm Beach Inn. The two-story building, whose frame was also made of wood, was smaller, more modest and calmer than the Royal Poinciana. It ensured a more free, informal ambiance and charmed with the closeness of the waters. Since many regular guests of the Palm Beach Inn would often ask for rooms with a view of the waves, once the expansion works were completed in 1901, the hotel was renamed the Breakers (as a reference to the waves breaking by the shore). When on June 9, 1903, the wooden building was lost to fire, Flagler did not hesitate to rebuild it. Only eight months later, on February 1, 1904, a new, 425-room, four-story Colonial-style structure (made of wood, likewise) was put into service. At that time, the price for a stay started from four dollars for a room and three meals a day.14 In the Flagler System brochures it was stressed with complete confidence, “No hotel on the Florida East Coast is better appointed or more popular than The Breakers.” Over time, the Royal Poinciana and the Breakers were connected by means of a promenade. A port was also put in operation, where from the company steamboats cruised to Nassau in the Bahamas, to Havana in Cuba, and to Key West.

In accordance with Flagler’s plan, West Palm Beach was intended as the final station of his railroad, whose name was changed to the Florida East Coast Railway back in September 1895. At attempt at shifting this situation was made by Julia Tuttle, the owner of over 640 acres of forested and marsh land situated on the Miami River (later called “Mother of Miami”). She would repeatedly ask Flagler to bring the railroad south to Biscayne Bay and even offer a share of her land, only to be refused. This state of affairs continued until the Great Freeze of 1894–1895 hit most of Florida, leaving the crops destroyed. Meanwhile, the area over 60 miles south on Biscayne Bay was unharmed by the cold. As a proof, the magnate received a parcel containing blossoms of orange trees, lime trees and lemon trees mailed by Mrs. Tuttle. Their meeting took place on June 1, 1895. At that time, both parties agreed that in return for the land, Henry Flagler would extend the railroad to the Miami River, help build the city and erect a luxury hotel. Laborers began the works in that very year in September, and on April 15, 1896, a seventy-mile-long section of the railway was put into service, reaching up to a point officially proclaimed the new city of Miami on July 28, 1896. A few months earlier, the area by the river mouth had been cleared to prepare the soil for a new hotel named the Royal Palm. The task of supervising 700 workers designated to build it was once again assigned to architects James McGuire and Joseph A. McDonald (who previously designed the Royal Poinciana and the Breakers). Owing to them, in the summer of 1896, the Royal Palm already started coming into shape, whereas in the fall, the future manager of the hotel W. Merrill hired 400 more people to carry out finishing and furnishing works. Although the property was not planned to be officially opened until January 16, 1897, back on Christmas, it received Flagler’s friend, a New York millionaire John Jacob Astor IV. The first hotel in Miami was truly impressive. The nearly 660-feet-long building in the Colonial Revival style had five stories and a red mansard roof. The central part of the structure was expanded by one story that served as a lookout tower. In turn, from the east, an impressive, nearly 560-feet-wide veranda furnished with rocking chairs for resting sojourners was incorporated into the body of the building. At the Royal Palm hotel, 350 rooms including one hundred with private bathrooms were given at guests’ disposal. Other visitors could use additional one hundred public bathrooms. The establishment also housed one hundred rooms for the staff members. And there were as many of them as 300, including sixteen cooks. The hotel’s general space comprised a spacious restaurant for 500 customers, a café and drink bars, a ballroom, numerous parlors, a reading rooms and a billiard room. The property was abundant with potted palm trees enclosed by wicker furniture.15 A separate building accommodated a kitchen, a laundry, ice-making machines, a boiler room and power generators that provided lighting in the hotel and powered electric elevators.16 The area surrounding the hotel was highly impressive, too. A vast park landscaped using rare tropical plants, a golf course and a swimming pool (39 by 147 feet large) encouraged visitors to relax outdoors. Hotel Palm Royal was open only from January to April. However, in 1898, it operated also after the end of the winter season serving as a base for officers of troops stationed in South Florida during the Spanish-American War. Soon after the Royal Palm, yet another establishment in Miami was made part of the Flagler System, namely, Hotel Biscayne; this time, based on a lease, since its actual owner was Joseph McDonald. The brick Hotel Biscayne opened in 1896. It had fifty rooms, each with running hot and cold water. The facility also operated in summer months. At that time, it housed groups of tourists and members of rallies who would come to Miami by the Florida East Coast Railway.17 Nonetheless, after three years, Hotel Biscayne was excluded from the Flagler System since McDonald decided to sell it.

Hotel Royal Palm in Miami

(Source: Shorpy)

Henry Flagler became Miami’s main philanthropist. It is thanks to him that the canal was deepened, a train station was built, streets were paved, a water and sewage system was created, and the city was electrified. Moreover, he also financed the building of a school, a hospital and a church, and the founding of the first local newspaper The Miami Metropolis. Initially, in recognition of his contribution, the locals wanted to change the name of the city to “Flagler”, but the man himself declined this honor and convinced them to keep the old Indian name “Miami”.

Henry Flagler also launched fixed ferry links between Palm Beach and Nassau in the Bahamas with the possible expansion in the Caribbean in mind. He was convinced to so do particularly by the Governor of the Bahamas, which were a British colony, Sir William Haynes-Smith, who was keen to draw rich American tourists there. As a result of negotiations, in return for maintaining steamboats in the Bahamas, Flagler got a hundred-thousand-dollar subsidy from the British government. He used this money for purchasing Hotel Royal Victoria in Nassau in 1898, which was built in 1861, and for its comprehensive modernization. Additionally, Flagler obliged himself to set up and run another hotel in that city under the name the Colonial. When in 1900, the new, 340-room establishment was launched, the Royal Victoria remained closed from the 1901 season. However, the latter was still included in promotional materials of the hotel system in subsequent years.18 Back in the fall of 1900, Henry Flagler ordered the trustworthy McGuire & McDonald Company to start works on a new hotel in North Florida, namely, in Atlantic Beach (near Jacksonville). Consequently, right on the beach, an impressive, five-story building with a rotunda, a yellow façade and characteristic green shutters was erected. The Continental welcomed its first guests on June 1, 1901. It had 186 rooms, fifty-six bathrooms, numerous parlors and an enormous dining room for 350 people. The hotel premises also housed a dance pavilion, a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, a bowling alley, stables with horses, piers for anglers and a train station.19 Sadly, unlike other hotels, the Continental proved a financial fiasco, bringing a loss of over 50 thousand dollars after the first five years. In 1913, the entire land including the hotel was sold to the Atlantic Beach Corporation and the name was changed to Hotel Atlantic Beach.

From 1895, Flagler’s second wife, Ida Alice, was suffering from mental illness and was treated in a psychiatric hospital. In 1901, the state legislature approved a law under which an untreatable mental condition could be considered grounds for divorce; this allowed Flagler to marry for the third time. On August 24, 1901, at the age of seventy-one, he wedded Mary Lily Kenan, thirty-seven years younger than him. At the same time, Flagler set up a several-million trust fund to ensure life-long care for his former wife (who died in 1930). In 1902, the newlyweds moved in to Whitehall – a Beaux-Arts palace in Palm Beach with seventy-five rooms built as a wedding gift for his spouse. The New York Herald described Flagler’s new home as “… more wonderful than any palace in Europe, grander and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world.”20 Soon after, Florida became a trendy location among well-off American families and Palm Beach was considered a proper place for a winter residence, such as El Mirasol of the Stotesbury family, El Salano of the Vanderbilt family, Il Palmetto of the Widener family, La Guerida of the Wanamaker family, and so forth.

It seemed that Henry Flagler would finally retire. After all, he was over seventy years old, spent millions on his projects, built magnificent hotels from St. Augustine to Miami, and his railroads reached the southernmost tip of the Florida Peninsula (Homestead). Nonetheless, he still had firm ambitions. He was tempted by the closeness of Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America, as well as the United States’ support for the construction of the Panama Canal. If that investment came to fruition, the city of Key West (situated on an island of the very same name in the Florida Keys archipelago) would have become the closest American deep-water port and an important trade point. Flagler was convinced that in order for him to benefit from it, he had to facilitate transportation by means of connecting Key West to the mainland. Ultimately, in the summer of 1905, he started the implementation of a colossal endeavor called the Overseas Railroad, also referred to by some as the “Flagler’s Folly”, which consisted in laying 128 miles of railroad tracks across the islands and the open sea. With Joseph C. Meredith as its chief construction engineer, the project required numerous engineering innovations, vast amounts of materials and nearly three thousand workers. Dikes were formed, and steel and concrete bridges were put up over the sea and in the wetlands on the islands. The construction works were delayed by hurricanes that hit the region causing massive-scale damage. The Overseas Railroad is estimated to have cost 49 million dollars and several hundred human lives. Seven years after the beginning of the investment, on January 22, 1912, at 10:43 a.m., the first passenger car with eighty-year-old Henry Flagler on board reached Key West. He was greeted ceremoniously by nearly ten thousand people. Many proclaimed his work the Eighth Wonder of the World.21

Back when the Overseas Railroad was under construction, when in 1906, workers reached Long Key – one of the central islands in the Florida Keys archipelago, Henry Flagler ordered that wooden cottages be built for their use. Over time, he noticed the island’s tourist potential – beautiful coconut palm groves and coastal waters full of fish; for this reason, he decided to turn the workers’ camp into a luxuriant resort for anglers. In 1909, Long Key Fishing Camp was opened, comprising a two-story hotel with a reception desk, rooms, a gymnasium, a restaurant, thirty villas, a post office and a train station. The resort was a paradise for anglers and became famous owing to writer Zane Grey, a permanent resident and the pioneer of sail fishing and the first president of a fishing club established there in 1917.22 The Long Key Fishing Camp proved to be the last hotel investment made by Henry Flagler, who died at 10.00 a.m. on May 20, 1913 due to trauma sustained after his fall from the stairs in his Whitehall residence in Palm Beach. His body was buried in the Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine, next to his first wife, Mary Harkness, daughter Jennie Louise and granddaughter Marjorie. Mary Lily Kenan died three years later and Flagler’s fortune was inherited by her family – sisters and a brother.

On December 31, 1920, Flagler’s hotel chain was expanded to include a hotel named Casa Marina in Key West. Hence, the promise of setting up a luxury hotel that Henry Flagler had made to the town residents was fulfilled. The construction works started in 1918, and the project was once again devised by the Hastings & Carrere duo, ensuring that every smallest detail both on the outside and inside the building would be consistent with its patron’s original concept.

Henry Flagler was an exceptional entrepreneur. He had a remarkable bent for investments and did not shun a challenge at any point of his life. At that time, his Overseas Railroad was considered the most ambitious engineering project ever executed by a private person. Flagler was capable of keeping everything under control. He would personally choose architects, constructors and managers for his establishments. He monitored construction works contracts, the number of employees, payrolls and costs of materials. Since his hotels combined elegance and luxury with cutting-edge technology, the services rendered at these places were affordable only for the rich and famous. They would flock to Florida with all their ‘entourage’, ensuring maximum occupancy at these establishments. However, in a situation where all the hotels (with the exception of the Continental in Atlantic Beach that operated in summertime) were opened only for the winter season, i.e., from January to March, hence generating profit only to the extent that allowed them to cover the costs of their operation in these three months a year, their profitability remained highly questionable. What is more, Henry Flagler was proclaimed the forerunner of the “loss leader” theory of hotel management that involves selling one product at a non-profitable price in an effort to attract clients and persuade them to buy other products. He believed that a perfect hotel or restaurant must accept additional expenditure before it proves to be a high-class and high-quality establishment. While the Ponce de Leon was still operating at high occupancies, its new manager decided to take a more cost-efficient measure. Hence, he telegraphed Flagler asking for his permission to fire the expensive French cook and an equally expensive music band. Flagler replied, “Hire another cook and two more of the best orchestras.”23

Who is to say “No” to the rich man? After all, Flagler earned millions and spent millions. Perhaps he had a comprehensive approach to his business in Florida. Guests were arriving there using his railroad, slept at his establishments and took leisurely trips on his steamboats. At the same time, joint transport, advertisement and sales efforts, product delivery and job switching improved financial the financial results of the entire corporation. Losses in one area could be compensated for with profits from other areas.

What became of the Flagler System hotels? The Ponce de Leon survived the Great Depression, and during the Second World War II, it served as a training center for the personnel of the Coast Guard Reserve. Sadly, the hotel occupancy would then plummet continuously until 1968, when it became the seat of Flagler’s College providing education in liberal arts. The Alcazar closed down in 1932 and the building was taken over by the municipal authorities, which adapted it into an office space. In 1947, part of the edifice was sold to Otto Lightner, who opened there Lightner Museum in 1974 with a private collection of antiques. Royal Palm and Royal Poinciana were not that lucky. Both buildings were demolished in 1930 and in 1934, respectively. Long Key Fishing Camp, previously completely destroyed in 1935 by the Labor Day hurricane, succumbed to a similar fate. From the time of its sale in 1949, Hotel Ormond had many different private owner. In 1957, it was transformed into a senior citizens’ home, and in 1992, it was demolished to allow space for an apartment building. Hotel Casa Monica suffered due to the Great Depression and closed down in 1932. In 1962, the building was purchased and renovated by the St. John’s County Commission and converted into a court of law. Then, in 1997, it was sold for 1.2 million dollars to Richard Kessler, who reinstated its name and restore it to its former glory, and made it part of his collection of boutique hotels (the Kessler Collection). At present, Casa Monica is a member of the Autograph Collection Hotels by Marriott. To this day, former hotels Colonial and Casa Monica operate under the Hilton brand. The former was destroyed by fire in 1922, but the land was purchased from the government of the Bahamas by a company named Munson Line, which built the new, seven-story hotel New Colonial in 1924. Eight years later, the investment was taken over by Sir Harry Oaker, who changed the name to Hotel British Colonial. Comprehensively modernized, it operates under the name British Colonial Hilton Nassau. In turn, Casa Marina has become a Waldorf-Astoria brand. During the Second World War, this building served as quarters for the US Navy officers, whereas since 1946, when its owner changed, it began receiving guests again. Hotel Breakers, which remained in the hands of Mary Lily Kenan’s inheritors, was lost to fire again in 1925. And once again, it was rebuilt – this time, using fire-proof concrete. Reopened after several modernization works on December 29, 1929, it continues to operate as a luxury hotel to this day. As for Flagler’s other ‘masterpieces’, the Whitehall residence was sold in 1925, and transformed into a hotel by its new owners. In 1959, it returned to the family, who opened the Flagler Museum there. The famous Overseas Railroad that led to Key West never reached the amount of passenger and cargo traffic foreseen by Flagler. In 1935, it sustained serious damage due to the Labor Day hurricane, and the Florida East Coast Railway did not undertake to fix it. The railroad was taken over by the state authorities, which built a highway based on the existing infrastructure and put it in operation. Although most of Flagler’s hotel buildings did not survive to this day, there are many places that commemorate the man who made Florida accessible to tourists and transformed it into America’s major vacation center.

Endnotes

1. Johannes Baur

1 Johannes Baur, Historisches Lexikon des Schweiz, www.hls-dhs-dss.ch.

2 E. Denby, Grand Hotels, Reaktion Books 1998, 114.

3 L. Gaulis, R. Creux, Schweizer Pioniere Der Hotellerie, Editions De Fontainemore 1976, 198.

4 Baur au Lac, Birth of a Legend, 2.

5 D. Nievergelt, Stadt Zürich: Bauten aus dem Mittelalter bis zum 19. Jahrhundert, e-periodica 1979, 51.

6 Baur au Lac, Birth of a Legend, 4.

7 Savoy Hotel Baur en Ville feiert 180-jährigen Geburtstag, www.htr.ch.

8 Baur en Ville, wikipedia.org.

9 E. Denby, Grand Hotels, op.cit., 114.

10 Baur Au Lac Information, www.iltm.com.

11 The Baur au Lac Story, www.bauraulac.ch.

12 A. Mourby, Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Grand Hotels, Icon Books 2007.

13 Baur au Lac, Birth of a Legend, 6.

14 Johannes Baur, Historisches Lexikon des Schweiz, www.hls-dhs-dss.ch.

15 Theodor Baur, Historisches Lexikon des Schweiz, www.hls-dhs-dss.ch.

16 F. Gubler, R. Glynn, Great, Grand & Famous Hotels, 2008, 62

2. Henry Flagler

1 S. Turkel, Great American Hoteliers. Pioneers of the Hotel Industry, AuthorHouse 2008, 43.

2 John D. Rockefeller, www.wikipedia.org.

3 Henry Flagler, www.encyclopedia.com.

4 Henry Flagler, www.wikipedia.org

5 Henry Flagler, www.flagler.edu.

6 S. Wallus Sammons, Henry Flagler, Builder of Florida, Pineapple Press Inc. 2010, 13.

7 Florida East Coast Railway, www.wikipedia.org.

8 S. Turkel, Great American Hoteliers…, op.cit., 46.

9 Henry Flagler, www.floridamemory.com.

10 Stanley Turkel, Nobody Asked Me, But.. No. 148; Hotel History: Casa Monica Hotel (1888), St. Augustine, Florida, www.hotel-online.com.

11 G. Turner, A Short History of Florida Railroads, Arcadia Publishing 2003, 69–70.

12 Hotel Ormond, www.ormondhistory.org.

13 G. Turner, A Short History of Florida Railroads, op. cit., 72

14 Breakers, www.jan.ucc.nau.edu

15 C. Piket, Miami’s First Luxury Hotel, www.miami-history.com

16 Royal Palm Hotel Miami, www.wikipedia.org

17 N. D. Shappee, Tequesta: Flagler’s Undertakings in Miami in 1897, www.digitalcollections.fiu.edu

18 S. Bramson, Speedway to Sunshine: The Story of the Florida East Coast Railway, Boston Mills Press 2010, 49

19 The Continental Hotel, www.beachesmuseum.org

20 Whitehall, www.flaglermuseum.us

21 S. Turkel, Great American Hoteliers…, op. cit., 61.

22 M. Gross, The Long Key Resort: Flagler’s Floridian Fantasy, www.nypost.com

23 S. Turkel, Great American Hoteliers…, op. cit., 61