Seguí-Kirby Smith House

Seguí-Kirby Smith House

St. Augustine Free Public Library

St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library

1788 or 1805

1887

1895

1984-1987

1990s

2024-2025

This building was built as a private home.

This building became a boarding house.

This building was converted in St. Augustine's public (subscription) library.

This building was adapted to the Research Library for the St. Augustine Historical Society.

In 1786, Bernardo and Agueda Villalonga Seguì purchased this lot with only a small house of stone and wood on it. In either the year 1788 or 1805, depending on the source, Seguí built the coquina house that remains today, incorporating a part of the original dwelling. The house is one of 36 Spanish Colonial houses that still exist in St. Augustine.

In May 1824, future Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith was born in the house. It was also his childhood home. He later joined the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, becoming the highest ranking Confederate officer from Florida. He was the final Confederate officer to surrender upon the conclusion of hostilities. In 1887, Kirby Smith and his sister sold the house and it was turned into a boarding house with offices.

In 1895, John L. and Frances Wilson purchased the house and gave the property to the private organization they were part of that had been providing public library services (for a fee) since 1874 out of two rooms in the U.S. Customs House. They also helped form the St. Augustine Library Association. The St. Augustine Free Public Library was housed in the Sequi-Kirby Smith House until 1987, when the library became integrated into the St. John's County Public Library System and relocated to 1960 N. Ponce De Leon Blvd. 

The Seguí-Kirby Smith House became one of the sites in St. Augustine to be added to the Historic American Buildings Survey published March 1, 1941, listed as "City Library."  In 1984, the St. Augustine Historical Society, etablished in 1883, assumed responsibilty of the property and moved valuable and historic print materials into the former home/library. The St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library became accessible at this location in 1987 from the previously used Dunham Building on 271 Charlotte St. After the move in the 1990s, renovations to the building were done that need to be partially redone in 2024-2025 when the first floor of the southern end of the building was completely remodeled before reopening on June 6, 2025.

This building was the public library for St. Johns County.

This building is owned and operated by the St. Augustine Historical Society.

The St. Augustine Historical Society's Research Library is open to the public via appointment.

St. Augustine Historical Society's Research Library
6 Artillery Lane
St. Augustine, FL 32084
https://www.saintaugustinehistoricalsociety.org/research-library/

This building is located on the corner of Artillery Lane and Aviles Street.

The Ximenez-Fatio House is next to the Research Library.

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

Photograph 1 (n.d.): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Gilded Age. Acadia Publishing, 2008.

Photograph 2 (n.d.): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the 1930s and 1940s. Acadia Publishing, 2019.

Photograph 3 (1971): Van Campen, J.T. St. Augustine: Florida’ Colonial Capital. 3^rd printing. St. Augustine, FL: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1971.

Photograph 4 (2023): Augusty, Jean-Marc. "SAHS Building." March 5, 2023.

Photograph 5 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Florida Historic Marker." October 22, 2025.

Photograph 6 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Old City of St. Augustine Marker." October 22, 2025.

Photograph 7 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "New City of St. Auguine Marker." October 22, 2025.

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

Adams, William R. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Historical Guide. Pineapple Press, 2009.

Blazek, Ron. “The Development of Library Services in the Nation’s Oldest City: The St. Augustine Library Association, 1874-1880. The Journal of Library History (1974-1987) 14, no. 2 (Spring 1979): 160-182. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25540957.

St. Johns County Public Library. “About Us.” 2024. https://sjcpls.org/about/.

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 books feature this building as a location:

The Vampirate of Matanzas Inlet
Voices in St. Augustine

This record was last updated on October 24, 2025.