Poinciana Blue

This is a rare cyanotype taken of the HRP shortly after it opened in 1894. The building is only half its ultimate size and the great piazza that extended from the porch west toward the docks hasn't been built yet.

The famous gardens haven't been planted offering an unobstructed view of the porch and ground floors.

Click to enlarge- note the arched entrance to the lobby at the top of the porch. Pass through that door. You are standing in the Rotunda.

The Rotunda

At the top of the steps of the main entrance you'll pass through one of three doors into the Rotunda. The ceiling rises straight up to the great cupola. It's furnished with white wicker furniture and spittoons.

To your left is a long hallway leading to smart shops featuring the latest in fashion, jewelry, souvenirs and candy. Just to the right is a writing room where you can send postcards just like this one to your friends and family in the frozen north.

The stairway straight ahead takes you to the mens (to your left) and ladies (to your right) lounges. A secret hallway leads from the men's toilet to the bar. The passage is affectionately called"Hypocrite's Row." A floor plan will be posted shortly to get you there.

Click to enlarge.

Palm Beach 1906- The Gift Shop

Support this blog! Visit the gift shop!

A few products, designed by artist Pat Crowley are available here with more designs on the way. 

Souvenir Vendor

An extremely rare picture of a souvenir vendor in Palm Beach. The picture was taken by a hotel guest in 1899 or 1900 on the Breakers beach. Note the pier in the background.  There are lots of great details in this picture. Hanging from the top left of the rack are hats matching the one he's wearing.

This photograph was taken just in front of the Poinciana on the famous Ocean Walk facing east. The trolley tracks run parallel to the walk just out of view on the left. The souvenir vendor has moved from the beach to try his luck at the hotel with the aid of a friend. A bicylechair driver stands at the ready in tunic and cap (no. 41.) Click to enlarge.

In this view we are standing on the Walk facing west towards the Poinciana. The steps to the entrance on the southern side of the hotel are in clear view. Two men are standing in the same spot as the cocoanut head vendors. It appears that Ask Mr. Foster, travel guide and purveyor of photo albums and framed souvenir pictures had his first store inside the hotel. It later moved into the bank of stores on the west lawn of the Poinciana. The ? sign served as Foster's logo.

Guest Photo

A rare view of the hotel taken by a guest in 1899 or 1900. The picture was taken with a Brownie style camera from the first bridge linking West Palm Beach to Palm Beach. The bridge stood between the hotel and the site of Henry Flagler's future home -Whitehall. When Whitehall was completed a few years after this picture was taken, Mrs. Flagler asked that the noisy railroad bridge (note the tracks on the left of the pedestrian walk) be moved. It was- to the spot where the north bridge stands today.

At the time, this rail line dropped guests off right at the hotel and could continue on to the pier next to the Breakers hotel. The line was also used for the Palm Beach Trolley.

Here's the trolley, taken by the same photographer, carrying guests west to the Poinciana from the Breakers hotel. The hotel burned to the ground a few years later in the summer of 1903 and was quickly rebuilt . The hotel was once again destroyed in a devastating fire in 1925.

The Casino and Pool

The Casino saltwater pool viewed from the inside, west end looking east. Note the spectators sitting on the east end top deck.

The Casino seen from the southeast looking northwest. Same spectators on the top deck. Click to enlarge. Note the signs above the doors reading Mens Tickets Only and Womens Tickets Only. Hotel guests could change into rented bathing suits here. To the right (north) of the Casino are the two wings of the Breakers hotel. North of the hotel are the "cottages" available to guests who required more spacious accommodations.The guest cottages were torn down and replaced by condominiums. One cottage "Seagull" was spared and moved across the island next to Flagler's Whitehall. It recently underwent a complete restoration.

Caddyshack

A triptych featuring the Hotel Poinciana Hotel golf course. Click to enlarge! A man tees up at the first hole while friends and players wait in the shade. The hotel looms in the background. This was Florida's first eighteen hole golf course. Henry Flagler didn't play the game and thought it was a colossal waste of time and space. But that didn't stop him from denying his guests the pleasure.

The course and the Pine Walk (background) still stands today.

(Photo- Library of Congress/Detroit Publishing Collection)

The Bathing Hour

Children on the south side of the Breakers pier.

The Breakers pier served as the first Port of Palm Beach. At one time it had train tracks to the end of the pier where ships unloaded cargo. The same track served later as the mule trolley line linking the Breakers to the Hotel Royal Poinciana. The hurricane of 1928 destroyed the pier. The remnants are a popular destination for local divers.

These ladies opt out of wearing the long, heavy woolen bathing costumes of the day. Alert lifeguards kept a watchful eye on the women in particular who risked being dragged under the waves by the sheer weight of their wet bathing dresses.

A cropped version of this picture was a popular postcard of the day on which lucky vacationers could boast of swimming in the dead of winter. There's a lot going on in this richly detailed photograph featuring all manner of resort fashions ca.1905 (click to enlarge.)
The sign in the center reads:  "The bathing hours on the beach are 11 to 1 during which expert Life Guards & Boatmen are provided for the safety of Casino Guests. Please be guided by their advice when entering the water. Geo. E. Anderson Supt."
In the foreground, a messenger from Alligator Joe reminds the tourists of his daily performance at 3:30.
The shoreline is lined with beach chairs topped with awnings (for the less adventurous.)
(Photos- Library of Congress/Detroit Publishing Collection)

The Bicycle Chair

The bicycle chair- sometimes called the "Afrimobile" or "Palm Beach Cab" was the only wheeled conveyance (other than a railroad or trolley car) allowed on Palm Beach at the turn of the century. The hotels employed drivers by the hundreds during the season.

The Palm Beach Hotel, which stood on the lake front about a half-mile north of the Royal Poinciana provided guests with this handy price list. Click to enlarge!

Paradise Found

A striking panorama featuring the famous gardens of the Hotel Royal Poinciana. The architecture of the building was a relatively modest Colonial design. The interior decoration, featuring grass-green carpets, soft pastels and wicker furniture amid   potted trees and plants suggested an eternal Spring- to the delight of guests escaping the harsh northern Winter. Click to enlarge! (Library of Congress)

The Palm Walk

The Palm Walk ran parallel to the mule trolley line from the Royal Poinciana to the Breakers- about a half mile. A fashionable lady strikes a pose ca. 1905. (James D. Phelan Collection)

 

The native sable palms cast a lovely lattice-work of shadows on the walk. Portions of the trail still exist a century later! (Library of Congress)

Afternoon Concert

Guests enjoy tea in the Coconut Grove while the hotel band serenades them from
the end of the Piazza that extended west from the front entrance. The bands played all day between both  the Royal Poinciana and the Breakers hotels. This appears to be the 4:30 p.m. concert. Click to enlarge! (Library of Congress)


Note the bottom of the program- The "Colored Sextette" (or sometimes a banjo quartette) provided late night  entertainment for the younger crowd in the Palm Room just across the hall from Hypocrite's Row.

A Tour Of The Rotunda

Welcome to Palm Beach. Your train arrived at the little station (where the Royal Poinciana Plaza stands today) where you were whisked away to the hotel by bicycle chair. You make a mental note to be one of the lucky few admitted to Col. E.R. Bradley's Beach Club casino tonight. First order of the day- check in.

You are standing on the lawn of the hotel, facing southeast. Just past the hotel and to your right, stands Henry Flagler's magnificent winter home, Whitehall. Head up the steps through one of the arched doorways. (Click to enlarge.) Views are marked on floorplan below.

B) The first thing you see is the great rotunda. Straight ahead is the stairway to the men's and ladie's lounges. In the men's washroom, follow the secret hallway (called "Hypocrite's Row) from to the bar and pool tables! The bar itself still survives and was last seen at the recently closed Hoboken Grill in West Palm Beach. To the left , a hallway leads to the shops. To the right are the elevators, doctor's office and writing room where postcards like these were written.

C) Just off the Rotunda and looking north you can see the long hallway leading to the shops featuring the latest in New York fashion, jewelry and souvenirs. Handy spitoons scattered around the parlor (lower left) saved the weary guest a trip outside.

D) Take a few steps back- same view at a slightly different angle. Just behind you are the elevators.

E) Now take a few more steps to your left. Directly behind you is the doorway to the writing room. Stationary and lots of desks provided. Winter guests were delighted with the
potted plants and wicker furniture that filled almost every room in the hotel. Most of the interior was painted cream with green trim.

Strictly Ballroom

This rare view of the Ballroom (Florida Historical Society collection) shows the entrance (center) as you enter from the top of the stairs in the Rotunda. Looking west, down the entrance hall you can see the center front entrance door of the hotel (bottom, viewed from the outside.) In the picture below (courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County) the steps are partially obscured by what appears to be the same plant.  

 

The doors were framed with leaded  glass. A piece of wicker furniture is visible just inside the doorway. Note the cuspidors scattered around the room- a measure to keep the grass-green carpets clean.

  

 In the top picture, the Ballroom (more here) is decorated with Japanese lanterns- a very popular motif of the day. Flagler's hotels staged three important balls every season: The New Year's, George Washington Birthday and St. Patrick's Day Ball.

Eventually the parties got so large they were moved into the massive dining room (below.)