In 1946, Otto Lightner moved to St. Augustine from Chicago on account of his health. On an earlier visit, Lightner had noticed the long vacant Alcazar Hotel, the second of the great hotels in St. Augustine constructed by Henry Flagler in his attempt to create a southern resort city. The hotel, completed in 1888, had been designed by the nationally prominent architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings. Designed in the Moorish Revival style, the massive structure with a central courtyard was constructed of poured concrete with elaborate terra cotta ornamentation decorating the walls and roofline. The hotel contained a huge indoor swimming pool, the first such facility in Florida, and also featured elaborate spa facilities, massage rooms, and much more.
The Alcazar Hotel closed its doors in 1931, and was purchased by Lightner for just $150,000. He, in turn, donated the complex to the city of St. Augustine with the understanding that it would forever house his museum of collectibles. Since the early 1970s, the building has housed both the museum and city offices.
The Lightner Museum opened in 1948, the huge spaces providing ample room for Lightner’s collections including furniture, architectural fragments, mechanical musical instruments, natural history, fine arts, ceramics, glass, toys and much more. Lightner died in 1950 and was buried in the courtyard just outside the entrance to the museum.
Although located in Florida for more than 60 years, the Lightner Museum continues to hold a fascination for those with an interest in Chicago history. A number of objects from the Potter Palmer castle on Lake Shore Drive may be found there including a stunning pair of Carrera marble columns and a throne chair, both shown below.
Items from Prairie Avenue homes include the dining room furniture from the Blackstone mansion (1912 S. Prairie Avenue) and a beautiful gilt Aesthetic movement chandelier from the home of Kate Buckingham (2036 S. Prairie Avenue), see below.
Even the infamous Everleigh Club, located at 2131-2133 S. Dearborn Street
in the heart of Chicago’s Levee district, is represented with a flamboyant Venetian glass chandelier.
The collections at the museum are vast and varied from player pianos to buttons, and from an Egyptian mummy to brilliant cut glass. Devotees of Chicago history owe a debt of gratitude to Otto Lightner for his efforts to preserve Chicago as it grew and thrived from the late 1800s past the turn of the 20th century.
In 1934, Otto C. Lightner, publisher of Hobbies magazine, opened a unique museum in a former mansion at 2816 S. Michigan Avenue. The museum was a treasure trove of objects collected over the course of years, many from the leading homes in Chicago, on Prairie Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, and elsewhere. Lightner acquired the decorative objects, light fixtures, stained glass, and architectural fragments, from the grand old houses as they were being demolished.
The house had originally been built for Charles W. Brega in the late 1880s. The architect was Solon S. Beman, architect of the Town of Pullman and the Kimball mansion at 1801 S. Prairie Avenue to name but a few. Brega was a prominent member of the Chicago Board of Trade and his elegant home on this fashionable section of Michigan Avenue reflected his business and social successes. He lived there with his wife Fanny and their only child Louise, who later married a British army officer, Colonel Ralph H. James, and moved to England. (Their son Charles James, became a well-known clothing designer in the U.S.). After Brega died in 1906, his wife also moved to England, and the house was acquired by Franklin P. Smith, a prominent wire and iron manufacturer and one of the early settlers of Lake Forest.
Lightner acquired the house from the Smith family in 1933 and immediately began converting the building into his museum. The rooms were filled with fine objects from leading families – Potter Palmer, Edith Rockefeller McCormick, Victor Lawson, John Farwell, and many more. Stained glass (including panels from the Chicago Board of Trade) filled the windows, furniture was crammed into every space, and countless curio cabinets were filled to overflowing with art glass and more. The rooms were given themes and names – the Music Room, the Gold Room, the Textile Room, the Curio Room, the Egyptian Room, the Crystal Room, and the Oriental Room. The museum also featured an especially fine collection of objects from the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Several objects from Prairie Avenue homes made their way into the museum including paneled doors from the Pullman house, a gold-plated chandelier from the Buckingham house, brass andirons from the Armour house, and a dining room – complete with glassware, china, paneling, furniture, and all – from the residence of Isabella Blackstone.
As the collection grew, Lightner acquired the adjacent properties. To the north he constructed a building to house his publishing business. To the south, he planned a huge modern addition to the museum that would connect to the nearby Kohl mansion. At the close of World War II however, due to ill health, Lightner made the decision to move to St. Augustine Florida and take his collections with him. The publishing business was moved to 1006 S. Michigan Avenue, which still features a faded sign publicizing Hobbies Magazine on its side.
Next week: The Lightner Museum opens in St. Augustine
