Living Life Like it's a Vacation!

Feb. 17, 2016---Flagler Museum:

When it was completed in 1902, the New York Herald proclaimed that Whitehall, Henry Flagler's Gilded Age estate in Palm Beach, was "more wonderful than any palace in Europe, grander and more magnificent than any other private dwelling in the world." Today, Whitehall is a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public as the Flagler Museum, featuring guided tours.

From the parking lot. There is a fee to this museum---$18/adult.

details of the ironwork on the front gate

more of said details

and more of the gate ironwork.

before going into the house, we wandered around the front yard. Loved the big old trees.

and the super tall palm tree.

This is the side area between the house and the building the cafe and train are in.

one of the many faces holding up the roof.

Love all the detail in the plaster.

just inside the main door.

fine detail work even on the ceilings.

looking back towards the grand staircase

inside the library.

delicate sculpture made from marble

inside the music room.

Back in the day, Flagler would hire an organist during the summer and that person would play here.

loved how he used cupids in a lot of the decor.

looking back through the music room.

into the courtyard. The house was built around this courtyard.

one of the neat palms in the courtyard.

a sculpture on the courtyard fountain.

Even the hurricane shutters are decorative..

a hallway with another different ceiling.

Where the men would retreat to after dinner--the game room.

the Grand Ballroom

copy of a photo taken in the Ball Room back in the good old days.

more of the unique wall-ceiling trim.

I loved all the fresco like paintings throughout the house.

the newer section where the hotel was. I believe this was the lobby.

more of the lobby. loved the sky lights.

a couple of their demitasse spoons

I loved how all the ceilings and trimwork was different. This is the Breakfast Room.

Looking to the left from where I took the picture above. This shows the door into the dining room and another door out into the courtyard.

an eagle holding up the mantle of the fireplace in the dining room.

the dining room.

another cherub holding up some wall trim.

on the other side of the dining room from the breakfast room was a sitting room where the women would retreat to after dinner.

They had lamp shades made to resemble women's hats of the day.

At least the women's retreat was as nice as the men's retreat.

heading up the grand staircase to the bedrooms.

around the courtyard both upstairs and downstairs are hallways looking out into the courtyard and decorated with plants and lounging chairs (except in the front of the house because that's where the Grand Staircase is).

A little desk in the hallway.

1 of the many guest rooms.

love the plaster ceiling designs.

the largest of the guest rooms.

more of that large room

They all had interesting clocks on the mantles.

they even had walk in closets with sky lights!

all the bedrooms were very different and really beautiful.

Even the crown molding in all of them was different

I love how the crown molding was curved in this room.

This one seemed rather plain compared to the rest.

I liked the pale green in the crown molding

better view of the molding

knew there would have to be a clock with a cherub on it.

Probably my favorite clock.

and a blue room.

looks like an anniversary clock

if I remember correctly, all of the bedrooms had their own bathroom, but only one was open for viewing. It looked like as you came into the room, there was a closet on one side and a bathroom on the other making a little hallway into the room. Looks like the floor tiling my daughter is putting in her bathroom.

The master bedroom. Note the wall paper matches the curtains with match the upholstered chairs---

wonder what happened to the matching bedspread?!

more great plaster work

another interesting clock.

a huge master bathroom

there was an impressive walk in closet, too. Part of the cabinets had glass doors to show off the good stuff like these dresses, other cabinets had wood doors to hide things away in. It even had built in dressers.

continuing around the courtyard and yet another bedroom.

and more fancy molding

the hallway around the courtyard with the bedrooms off to the left.

Seems they liked to use pale green.

another impressive fireplace

one room was set up with info on tatting and lace. Pretty impressive to see how it's done by hand.

and another bedroom with matching bedding and wall paper.

the last room was a sitting room. It was set up as the lady of the house's private sitting room where she would go to play music or write.

more of the sitting room.

the clock in the sitting room.

There was a 3rd story to the house which we weren't allow up to. I think it was servants quarters, but they did have some servants quarters at the back of the 2nd floor, too.

The other side of the servants' room. It was quite large, but without all the plaster work.

back downstairs looking into what I'm calling the lobby.

This is the building next to the house. This building holds Flagler's private train car and a cafe.

and a large Tiffany clock.

Flagler's private train car.

the area where high tea is held. Some ladies in front of us when we were buying our tickets to get onto the property were buying tickets to the tea. Those tickets were $40 for the tea, and another $18 to get onto the property. I guess that's why there aren't many people here!

the living room area of the private train car.

the bedroom.

guest beds or kids beds.

seating area under the bunks.

the car even had a little kitchen in it.

It doesn't look all that big, but it was quite nice. Angie wants to start a business where she sells train cars as houses and people can hook them up to trains and move from place to place.