Magnolia House

Magnolia House

Magnolia Hotel

1847

1853

1886

1899-1900

1926

Despite expansions and renovations, this location always served as a hotel.

After the 1926 fire, stores were built on this property.

Opened in March 1847, and owned by store-owner, Burroughs E. Carr, the Magnolia House was among the finest of the time in response to the need for more rooms for winter visitors. The Magnolia started off with seventeen rooms in the Territorial architectural style. By 1853, there were forty-five rooms. When President Grant visited St. Augustine in 1879, a special dinner was hosted by the Magnolia in his honor. Between Grant's visit and 1886, renovations tuned the Magnolia into a Queen Anne style - including a round tower - three-story hotel boasting 250 rooms. More changes came in 1899-1900, but the three-story wood building was destroyed by fire on December 27, 1926, the last of the large, pre-Flagler hotels.

Although not the oldest or longest running 19th century hotel, it maintained a reputation as a good place to stay, and even as late as 1912, was reasonably priced for vacationing families, with rates between $2.50 and $4 per day. For part of its history, the Magnolia offered live orchestral music twice a day. Sometime after the Hotel Ponce de Leon opened, to compete with the newer hotels, the Magnolia upgraded to include heat, gas lighting, and elevators in addition to the existing large windows for breezes and verandas.

After the Magnolia burned down, it was replaced with shops numbered, 100 to 110 St. George Street.

The Magnolia Hotel used to be on the corner of St. George and Hypolita streets.

The following books, articles, websites, and photographers were used to find the above photographs or illustrations:

Photograph 1 (c.1883): Knibloe, Walt. F. Schneur's Illustrated Guide and History of St. Augustine, Fla. St. Augustine, FL: Chas. F. Schneur, 1883/1885.

Photograph 2 (1888): Witteman, A. A Souvenir of St. Augustine. New York: A. Wittemann, 1888.

Photograph 3 (c.1910): Rogero, Beth, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Gilded Age. Acadia Publishing, 2008.

Photograph 4 (1926): Harvey, Karen. St. Augustine and St. Johns County. Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company, 1980.

Photograph 5 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Where the Magnolia Hotel Was." October 2, 2025.

The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:

Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Gilded Age. Acadia Publishing, 2008.

Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Roaring Twenties. Acadia Publishing, 2012.

Graham, Thomas. The Awakening of St. Augustine: The Anderson Family and the Oldest City, 1821-1924. St. Augustine, FL: Saint Augustine Historical Society, 1978.

Harvey, Karen. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Pictorial History. Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company, 1980.

Rajtar, Steve, and Kelly Goodman. A Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida. 1^st edition. The History Press, 2007.

Flagler College’s Rare Books, Floridiana & Institutional Repository are neither the original nor current copyright owner for the photographs. Please contact the publisher or source cited for each photograph to obtain a copy and/or permission to reproduce these items.

The following St. Augustine Fiction book features this building as a location: 

One Happy Winter

This record was last updated on October 6, 2025.