The Hotel Ponce de Leon in St Augustine, Florida was another of the Gilded Age's most sought-after hotels. Constructed between 1885 and 1887, this one was the brainchild of renowned oil and railroad magnate Henry M Flagler, who intended it to be a winter resort. Pictured here in the early 20th century, it was a lesson in luxury, with grand communal spaces including this cavernous dining room, with its frescoed ceilings and columns.

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