268:. The renovation took over six years to complete. It was finally dedicated as a courthouse in May 1968, and filled that role until the 1990s, housing government offices and archives as well as courtrooms. A notable feature of the courthouse were murals by the artist Hugo Ohlms, whose distinctive work was also featured in the nearby Catholic Cathedral and at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge (another civil rights landmark, where the arrest of Mrs. Peabody, the 72-year-old mother of the governor of Massachusetts, while trying to be served in a racially integrated group, made national headlines in 1964). The Ohlms murals were removed when the courthouse was remodeled into its second incarnation as a hotel. Also removed were the stained glass scales of justice that had been in the quatrefoil window over the main door.
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February 1962, St. Johns County Commission voted to purchase the former Casa Monica Hotel for $ 250,000 for use as the St. Johns County Courthouse. In 1964 the lobby of the then-vacant hotel was used to house police dogs that were used against civil rights demonstrators during the mass campaign
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In 1902, a short bridge was constructed over
Cordova Street that connected the second floors of the Cordova Hotel and the Hotel Alcazar. At the completion of the bridge, the Cordova Hotel was again renamed, this time to Alcazar Annex. In 1903, the Alcazar and Alcazar Annex were considered one hotel
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style of the hotel. Tina
Guarano Davis painted the Moorish-style woodwork in the hotel lobby. The Casa Monica sign on the Cordova Street side of the hotel covers over an earlier sign for the St. Johns County Courthouse. State historic preservation officials told them to preserve the courthouse
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chain, was setting up his own
Kessler Collection of lodgings. He purchased the building from St. Johns County for $ 1.2 million and began to remodel the building to once again become a hotel. The county Tax Collector's office and Property Appraiser's office were given until 1998 to relocate, so
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workers had to avoid a section of the building for several months. The renovation was completed in less than two years and the property opened in
December 1999 under the original name of the "Casa Monica Hotel" (the name came from
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and advertised as "enlarged and redecorated". In 1932, the conjoined parts of the hotel were closed due to the Great
Depression. In 1945, the bridge between the Annex portion and the Alcazar Hotel was removed.
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Soon after completing the hotel, Smith ran into financial difficulties and sold the hotel, including all fixtures, furnishings, linen, and all other chattel, for $ 325,000 to oil and railroad tycoon
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had its headquarters in the hotel. It was started by Ward G. Foster of St. Augustine, became a national business, and was owned for a time in the 20th century by
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sign, so they covered it rather than removing it. The huge flagpole on top of the hotel is actually a lightning rod.
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Today the Casa Monica Hotel operates as part of the
Kessler Collection headquartered in Orlando, Florida.
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enthusiast and social reformer who earned a place in
Florida history for interesting
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The Casa Monica Hotel, renamed the
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Revival, in which Smith was also a pioneer promoter. His own winter home,
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in investing in the state. The construction material was poured
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476:Buildings and structures in St. Augustine, Florida
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408:Fifty Feet in Paradise: The Booming of Florida
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391:Historic Hotels of America National Trust -
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329:"Tax breaks may help in hotel restoration"
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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147:National Trust for Historic Preservation
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
481:Railway hotels in the United States
410:(Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984).
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327:Treen, Dana (November 12, 1997).
246:Entrance to the Casa Monica Hotel
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125:The Casa Monica Hotel in 2022
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501:Historic Hotels of America
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397:Preferred Hotels -
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