(Zorayda Castle)
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 1993HM Number | HM1XUL |
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Tags | |
Year Placed | 1997 |
Placed By | Zorayda Castle and Florida Department of State |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Friday, April 14th, 2017 at 9:01am PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 17R E 469560 N 3306830 |
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Decimal Degrees | 29.89173333, -81.31526667 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 29° 53.504', W 81° 18.916' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 29° 53' 30.24" N, 81° 18' 54.96" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 904 |
Which side of the road? | Marker is on the right when traveling East |
Closest Postal Address | At or near 87 King St, St. Augustine FL 32084, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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