Villa Zorayda

Gorgeous! Would go back in a heartbeat!

Amazing! Highly recommend. I’ve going to St. Augustine for many years. For the first time we toured the villa. Absolutely extraordinary! Amazing building and beautiful antiques. Family owned and operated. Marsha and her husband are great. I hope you enjoy as much as we did.

I was so excited to see this place because I saw pictures on the Internet of the inside and it made me want to go. When I get there I start snapping photos and the guy tells me photos aren’t allowed. I’m just like «what??» because people had some on the Internet. The place is just so uptight. There’s signs literal cluttering the place up telling people to not touch. I think people get the idea. I saw so many photo opportunities that wasn’t going to happen because they said I couldn’t take photos. It was disappointing because that was probably the only time I would get to go.

Stopped in at 3:30. Museum is open until 4. Decided better to come back tomorrow.
Asked if I could use restroom. Marcia refused. I am disabled. Offered to pay admission in order to use restroom. Marcia refused. Really?

Driving through Saint Augustine, you cannot help but notice the incredibly zany, yet colorful, building as you enter the city. Perhaps you were touring Flagler College, and this colorful, Moorish building caught your eye, or perhaps you read or heard about this place or the cursed rug. In my case, I had read about it when researching attractions in Saint Augustine on
, and when my friend and I drove through town, that was one of the first things we came across, apart from Flagler College. After seeing it, I just knew I had to keep that on my list of sights to see.
If you cannot afford to see the real deal in Spain, then this is a good introduction, at least until you can save up to see the place this home was inspired by: the Alhambra Palace in Granada. The villa contains luxurious interior details, including most notably cast plaster work matching that of the Alhambra in Spain. It is gorgeous, and contains a lot of different relics of other eras and countries of origin.
Unfortunately, photography is NOT allowed, hence the reason for not seeing any photos of the interior on Unilocal.That was a big downer for me. There is no guided tour, but there is an audio tour, for no extra charge. It is incredible how detailed it is on the inside! The most popular item on display, of course, is the «Sacred Cat Rug,» which has been featured on Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. It is over 2400 years old, was made from the hair of ancient Egyptian cats and was taken from a pyramid in Egypt. Like most things taken from the pyramids, it is said to possess a curse. The curse only takes effect if you walk on the rug, and it is safely kept away from anyone, so don’t worry, you won’t suddenly have any more bad luck than you already do! One of the main features of the building is the variation of the windows. Each window is a different shape and size because, according to superstition, the spirits could leave the house but would have trouble finding their way back in.
Apart from being an easily recognizable building, this building is very important in the fact that it pioneered the use of mixed concrete and coquina, which then inspired Henry Flagler to use these materials in his own construction. Franklin W. Smith, the original owner and builder of Villa Zorayda, built the Casa Monica Hotel in the Moorish Revival style to complement Flagler’s Ponce de Leon and Alcazar Hotels. Villa Zorayda set a precedence for St. Augustine in beginning the Moorish Spanish revival of architecture that is seen throughout the city today. Villa Zorayda was not only a house, but a casino, a speakeasy, and a movie set. Considering its history and its exotic, unique nature, Villa Zorayda should definitely not be passed up!

Really cool place. Good parking with helpful and friendly staff. Building has many great architectural features and its a great place to check out if you are in the area.

Villa Zorayda is just one of those super random site you pass and can’t help but check it out. I’m certainly glad I did. Apparently built by some mega rich dude, it’s modeled after the Moorish designed Alhambra of Granada, Spain. Although I was slightly more impressed with the real Alhambra, Villa Zorayda is definitely worth the visiting and taking the time to listen to the entire audio tour. It takes about an hour but informs you of all the unique pieces of art and history of the City and its development. A can’t be missed for history geeks and general curious like myself.

Great tour of history and the passion of men to acquire history for us to all enjoy. The audio tour was just the perfect amount of information to keep you in awe. A must see while in St. Augustine.

2000-​year-​old cat rug with a curse?! Ok, I’ll bite. I would have easily passed over this little gem were it not for the insistence of my travel companion and cruise director, JP. The residence is a scaled reproduction of the Alhambra palace. This much is obvious from various tourism propaganda. Once inside, though, the (sometimes cheesy) audio tour transports you to the turn of the last century, the land boom in St. Augustine, and roaring 20’s culture. Cursed cat rug aside, there are fantastic stories about the residence’s time as a casino and club (complete with some pretty cool original guest checks, menus and china), and a fabulous collection of hand-​carved antique furniture. The inside if the home is also a feast for the eye of the historic home buff as many turn-​of-​the-​century architectural features were blended into moorish culture.
We look very much forward to a candlelight tour at the holidays and the gift shop (pe?) reopening.

Amazing museum! Went there not expecting to need the audio tour but it turned out to be incredibly informative and managed to really bring this wonderful place alive during my visit. So happy I took the time to really look around, so many interesting pieces here to see.

Fortune brought me to the Villa Zorayda by way of Groupon. An ancient Egyptian rug made out of cat fur? Yes, please!
We spent the afternoon in St. Augustine while road-​tripping from Orlando to Savannah. I had no idea what to expect from this place (the website isn’t terribly helpful), but my husband and I are always down for an adventure. After we pulled into the parking lot we knew we were in for another one.
Originally a home that was modeled after a Spanish palace, the Villa has gone through many changes including housing a restaurant and casino. The detail in architecture is amazing and the Villa is filled with furniture, vases, hookahs, menus, roulette wheels, art, etc etc to showcase its colorful past.
There is an audio tour which is a must– otherwise you’ll wander around the house and go «why the crap is that in here?» about every 13 seconds. The audio tour is very informative without getting too long and drawn out. Allow yourself at least 45 minutes, but I can see someone easily spending 2 hours if they were to take their time.
My favorite rooms were the Sultan’s Den, whatever room that was next to it– the name of which escapes me now (the Harem room??), and of course, the room with the ancient Egyptian cat rug. It was more fantastically crazy than I could have imagined. And pretty creepy too.
I’m giving it 5 stars because I love museums and history and can spend plenty of time looking at every detail of a menu from the 1930’s. There is plenty to see and it’s funny how such an eclectic collection of «stuff» can all make sense here.
If museums aren’t your thing or you don’t find old furniture interesting you might want to think twice. But if a 2000 year old cat rug with a curse sounds exciting to you, then you should definitely make the Villa a stop while in St. Augustine.