From the earliest European settlements in North America and the establishment of the forts and missions of the Spanish Empire, to the growth of Florida's tourism industry and the latter-day efforts to preserve historic structures, the evidence of 500 years of Spanish heritage is clear in Florida's past and present architecture.
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Henry Flagler built this in memory of his daughter at Valencia and Seville streets. It was dedicated on March 16, 1890.
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In St. Augustine and Pensacola, ancient cottages show early attempts at recreating Spanish villages and homes in Florida. For much of Florida's Spanish Colonial period, buildings were constructed of impermanent materials such as mud, wood, and palm thatch. None of the structures from Florida's first Spanish settlers survive, although the street lay-outs in St. Augustine remain. Once Spanish architects and builders began to use the native stone material, coquina, more lasting structures were created. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, during Florida's second Spanish colonial period, large homes built for plantation owners and government officials reflected the centuries of European colonial history already passing and the emergence of architectural characteristics unique to the modern-day southeastern United States.
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The Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine is Florida's dominant Spanish Colonial landmark. Construction of the fortress, which took a quarter century, was completed in 1696. With walls 16 feet thick at the base and protected by a moat, the Castillo was never taken by force. The principal material is coquina, a sedimentary rock formed from billions of tiny seashells and quarried nearby. Most of the labor of quarrying and building was performed by Native Americans under the supervision of Spanish artisans.
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Many of the state's most iconic buildings, such as grand hotels, cathedrals, and civic buildings, were constructed during the Spanish Colonial revival and Mediterranean revival periods of architecture.
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Photo by Dale M. McDonald
Accompanying note: "Photo taken a couple of months after hurricane George hit the Florida Keys and Key West. Shows extensive damage to shrubbery and trees on property."
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