Villa Zorayda Museum - St. Augustine, FL - Official Local Tourism Attractions on Waymarking.com

Franklin W. Smith (1826–1911) was an architectural enthusiast and pioneer experimenter in poured concrete construction. His winter home, Villa Zorayda, was the first building to reintroduce Hispanic architecture into the former Spanish colony of Florida. His concrete building material and method 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, and in some ways the progenitor of Disney World. Smith was an authentic character of Victorian America who deserves to be more widely known. He 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 famous Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Just 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).

The villa contains luxurious interior details, including most notably cast plaster work matching that of the Alhambra in Spain, plus tropical hardwood furniture and the "Sultans Den" which includes a 2,300 year-old rug made from woven cat fur. One of the more notable features of the building is the windows, each window is a different shape and size, according to the superstition, the spirits would be able to leave the house but have difficulty finding their way back[2]. Over the years, the building has been used as a speakeasy and a movie set.

The building has recently undergone a complete renovation and is now open for guided tours. Audio tours are available in Spanish and other languages."

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A historical marker on the grounds reads as follows: "The Villa Zorayda was constructed in 1883 as the winter home of Franklin Smith, a Boston millionaire who was so impressed by the magnificence of the Alhambra Palace which he saw during a visit to Granada, Spain, that he decided to build his house as an exact replica of one wing of the palace at one-tenth of the original size. The 12th century palace had been built by the Moors who ruled Spain for six centuries before being expelled in 1492. Smith, a gifted amateur architect, designed the house himself, using the innovative technique of constructing the building with poured concrete reinforced with crushed coquina stone. Many other materials used in finishing the residence were imported from Spain. In 1913, the building was bought by Abraham S. Mussallem. In 1922, it became a nightclub and gambling casino which closed in 1925 when Florida outlawed gambling. In 1936, it was opened as a tourist attraction called the Zorayda Castle, exhibiting items fitting the architectural theme of the building. The property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1993."

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