The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-01-18
The Casa Monica Opening.


| flagstaffs on the towers of the Casa
Monica We're adorned with the two
| handsome flags belonging to the estab-
lishment, and the whole interior of the
vast pile was soon a perfect Babe. An
army of laborers, bell boys, chamber
maids, plumbers, painters, GLACIERS,
clerks, porters, cooks, walters and other
employees of every kind and degree
hurried hither and thither, as if pos
sessed of demons. Rich hangings were
| stretched across the arcade, separating
il from the still unfinished sofa del sol.
Rugs of every hue and degree
of richness-Turkish, Persian, vel
vet, Wilton, Administer and a
| half dozen other kinds were laid
in graceful disarray on the polished
floors of hall and office AMI arcade. The
waiting parlor, a splendid room in the
extreme northeast corner Of the building
on the office floor, wainscOtted in rich
pine and cypress paueling, with paneled
| ceilings and easements, was richly fur
nished with piano, a handsome and
costly rug made to fit the shape of the
room and a variety of antique furniture,
upholstered in embossed leather or silk
plush. The offices were equipped with
all manner of appropriate paraphernalia
and the region of the kitchens and dining
rooms was a scene of. activity, bewilder-
ing in its very aspect.
Mr.. Il. n. Wilson, the manager, whose
indomitable pluck and determination to-
open the house according to announce
ment had to be carried under these pc
culiariy unfavorable circumstances, was
here, there and every where, directing,
experimenting. arranging and watching
everybody and everything that was go
ing ON. The corps of employees is one for
a manager to be proud of.
Mr.. \. w. Hodgson, gentleman of
large experience in some of the leading
hotels of Boston, is the room clerk: MIR.
w. NJ. Briggs, late of New York city, is
bookkeeper and private secretary To the
manager; Mr.. f. H. Nunns, proprietor
of the Bass Rock Hotel. Gloucester,
Mass, is steward. The chef is Mr.. Chas.
IaManna, who has been with MIR.
Wilson for the past six
years at the Sherwood and
| the Langham, on Fifth Avenue,
| New York, and the Manhanset, at Shell
| ter Island. The baker is Valentine Kit
tening, from whose skillful hands good
bread and pastry may reasonably be ex-
pected. The head waiter is c. C. Ran
| dolpb, who had charge of Mime. PATHS
/ Il los
years progress all over the Union. The
head porter is Edward Ban rett, well
| known in the profession, and the forty
| or fifty trained walters, the corps of por-
| tiers, bell boys, chambermaids, under the
4 management of Miss A. A. Mower, the
housekeeper, formerly of the Windsor
Hotel, New York, compose a company
whose excellence and skill guarantee the
utmost comfort and attention to all the
] wants of every guest.
| Joyce's orchestra furnished the music.
| a detachment of the same being ex-
pected daily from New York, in addi-
ton to those composing the Ponce de
Leon orchestra and band. Meantime the
| members of that organization already
here will divide forces SO rs to supply
both establishments.
The Casa Monica contains $50 rooms,
| comfortably accommodating over 800
| people, and Is a model of convenience
| and attractive arrangement throughout.
1t is supplied with every modern con-
venience and appliance for the comfort
| and convenience of guests, has two ele-
vators and five stairways from top to
bottom. The entire house is finished.
| doors and all, in Florida hard pine. oiled
and vanished, and the floors are covered
not with carpets but rugs through
out The furniture has been Sc
| lected with a view to harmony
with the solid, substantial appearance
of the entire structure, and its finish
| ings and the ornaments when completely
finished, together with the finishing and
furnishing of the grand salon, the sala
del sol. the assembly hall, etc, will form
the subject of a later article.
| Mr.. Franklin w. Smith, the creator of
this magnificent pile, whose dreams
from youth to early manhood and from
manhood to old age have been of a
moment like this to perpetuate the
manifestation of "A peculiarly sensitive
taste for mediaval architecture, has in
J fine Casa Monica made his name doubly
famed as one of the first architects OF the
age. He has gathered from the East the
choicest gems of Oriental architecture
and reproduced them in fac simile In
the Casa Monica and in his own delight
full dwelling. the Villa Zorayda, not
iumbled together but 50 tastefully and
tremendously combined and blended as
to give an effect of marvellous beauty
and symmetry.
Long ages after his mortal part shall
have been gathered to mother earth the
structures he has erected in ST. Angus
tine will remain rs living monuments tt
his art and taste and hberality. of hin
it will not be truly said 1.-The evil tina
men do lives after them; the good is of
Inferred with their bones"
: The James Wainwright Dramati
Company has leased the opera hous
, and will give one performance OF Viz