The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum is located at 1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach, FL 33480. The 100,000 square foot mansion is comprised of 75 rooms. It is home to a variety of collections that highlight the history of Palm Beach and its famous inhabitants. The museum also features a variety of interactive exhibits. It is the perfect place to learn more about Flagler’s life and legacy.
The museum is a landmark in Palm Beach, Florida and is dedicated to the preservation of the historic Whitehall home, which was built by Flagler in 1902. Built in 1902, Whitehall was proclaimed “greater than any European palace” and “grander than any private dwelling in the world.” It was designed by New York architects Pottier & Stymus, who also designed the New York Public Library. A Great Post.
The Flagler family owned Whitehall, which was the perfect winter retreat for the family. The house was built for the family in 1902 as a wedding gift. With central heating, it was a Gilded Age palace. After 1913, the home became part of the Whitehall Hotel, which was eventually obsolete. In 1959, Jean Flagler Matthews raised money to preserve the house, including the tower that had been destroyed. Browse Around the Site.
The Flagler Museum is located in Whitehall, where it hosts special programs and guided tours. Typically, these programs run from October through January. Additionally, the museum has a lecture series, where best-selling authors and experts discuss various aspects of the Gilded Age. These programs are geared toward a broad audience and are great for families to attend.
Inside the Flagler Museum, you’ll find a number of artifacts and pieces that depict the lifestyle of the Flaglers. Among these are paintings and sculptures. One of the oldest rooms, the Colonial Chamber, is the largest and was saved for the Flaglers’ most important guests. It also includes a sleeping alcove and features furnishings that were originally in the Flagler’s Long Island home.
There are also portraits of Flagler’s family, including his wife and daughter. Another great painting, The Great Florida Marsh by Martin Johnson Heade, is located on the north wall of the museum. Heade was a noted American landscape painter who worked in St. Augustine under Flagler’s patronage.
Another historic building in town is the Whitehall mansion, which was designed by architects John Carrere and Thomas Hastings. It was intended to rival the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. It spans two floors and is over a hundred thousand square feet. Inside, you can view several pieces of furniture and art by such prominent artists as Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Flagler was a successful businessman who made his fortune in the oil and salt industries. He also built several luxury hotels along Florida’s east coast. This led to the creation of the Florida East Coast Railway, which transformed Florida into a tourism hotspot. The Flagler family travelled to Palm Beach every year in Railcar #91 and spent six or seven weeks in the Whitehall mansion.