Markland Hall

Markland Hall

Markland House

Markland

Clarissa Fairbanks Anderson

Charles A. Gifford

Dr. Andrew Anderson, Jr.

The Karcher and Rehen Firm

1839-1842

1858

1895

1899-1900

1924

1968

This building was originally built as a plantation home.

This building was sometimes rented to snowbirds.

This building was transformed into the President's House (under Dr. Proctor) on the upper floors and classrooms on the first floor.

This building is now used for offices and special events.

In 1829, Dr. Andrew Anderson moved with his first wife, Mary, and two daughters down to St. Augustine from Manhattan. Originally practicing medicine, Anderson quickly learned of the commercial profitablility of Florida oranges and "retired" in 1833 to focus on land speculation. So, Anderson purchased three small properties on St. George Street, each with small groves, before purchasing land from William Ovington, James Wilson, and Dr. Simmons, as well as a plantation from Mrs. J. Allen Smith. These acquisitions stretched from Maria Sanchez Creek to the San Sebastian River and from King Street to modern-day Valencia Street, totally 20 acres, most of which could be cultivated for orange groves. The name Markland, to refer to Anderson's new acreage, is known to have been used as early as June 1834. His grove north of King Street was considered the best and contributed greatly to the 2.5 million orange export from St. Augustine each year before the freeze of 1835.

After Anderson's wife's death, and his remarriage to his wife's friend who had come to St. Augustine to care for the three Anderson daughters, Clarissa Cochrane Fairbanks from New Hampshire, Anderson was desperate to build a new, more comfortable home for his family. He moved his family out of the rented wooden house on Hospital (now Aviles) Street where they lived. Markland Hall began being built from coquina, but the construction did not finish because Anderson died in late 1839 during a yellow fever epidemic. Clarissa Anderson completed construction of a smaller version of the home in 1842. Markland countinued to undergo various changes to keep up with both maintenance and improvements, such as a major exterior paint job in 1858. 

In the mid-1860s, Clarissa Anderson's son, Andrew Anderson Jr., back home in St. Augustine after completing medical school, and decided that another source of income was needed after the 1868 freeze killed off many of the carefully cultivated trees that had been planted after the 1835 freeze. The new income stream was turning land east of Markland on King Street, in 1870, into a new, two-story rentable cottage, called Anderson Cottage. 

After his mother's 1881 death, in 1885, Anderson Jr. sold the eastern portion of the estate to Henry Flagler for $20,000. He remained in residence, mostly, at Markland House, but rented out the house during the winter. Flagler later acquired the surrounding marshland and more pieces of the Markland estate including those owned by Anderson Sr.'s daughters. Anderson Cottage was moved to its current location on Sevilla Street as it did not fit with the architectural style of the Ponce de Leon Hotel that was in contruction at that point. 

Anderson Jr. continued work on Markland with conversations in 1895 with New York architect, Charles A. Gifford, to double the square footage of the house to include 14 bedrooms and a two-story brick structure added to the west wing. Gifford also
built a Billard Room separate from the main house that now serves as the St. Augustine branch of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. When Anderson Jr. died in 1924, Herbert E. Wolfe, the mayor of St. Augustine at the time, purchased Markland House. 

In 1968, the year that the former Hotel Ponce de Leon opened as Flagler College, Markland House was purchased by the school. Markland House was added to the  National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

This is an academic building for Flagler College serving primarily as offices and event space.

Markland House is not open the public but does serve as an event venue for weddings, campus special events, and lectures hosted by the St. Augustine Historical Society.

Anderson Cottage was once part of the Markland estate.

This building is located on King Street.

Flagler College's Markland parking lot used to be part of the estate's orange grove and is now the parking lot for the Proctor Library, Ringhaver Student Center, Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, in addition to Markland House.

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

Photograph 1 (1870): Waterbury, Jean Park. Markland. St. Augustine, FL: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1989.

Photograph 2 (1902): Waterbury, Jean Park. Markland. St. Augustine, FL: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1989.

Photograph 3 (1989):Waterbury, Jean Park. Markland. St. Augustine, FL: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1989.

Photograph 4 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Markland." August 1, 2025.

Photograph 5 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Markland Plaque." August 1, 2025

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

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

Murray, James R. “Markland.” Edited by Bernard Fisher. HMdb.org: Historical Marker Database. October 30, 2020. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=77212.

Nolan, David. The Houses of St. Augustine. Pineapple Press, 1995.

Visit St. Augustine. “Markland House.” https://www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/markland-house.

Waterbury, Jean Park. Markland. St. Augustine, FL: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1989.

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.

This record was last updated on October 7, 2025.