World of ‘Downton’ comes to Florida at museum exhibit

During St. Augustine’s days as a Gilded Age resort, Henry Flagler’s grand hotels drew visitors from all over the world to bask in the city’s warm winter season.

At Flagler’s Alcazar Hotel, dubbed “the castle of happy returns,” the glitterati of the day could take a dip in the world’s largest indoor pool, glide to an orchestra in the grand ballroom and improve their health with the latest treatments, including sulfur baths.

It was just the kind of place where the upstairs characters on “Downton Abbey,” the British series that enthralled PBS viewers for six seasons, might have stayed during visits to their American relatives.

Now, the Alcazar is home to the Lightner Museum, and if Downton’s characters can’t come calling (they are fictional, after all), many of the costumes that brought them to life for rapt viewers are paying a visit during a special exhibit, “Dressing Downton: Changing Fashions for Changing Times.” It’s on display at the Lightner through Jan. 7.

The exhibit features 36 original costumes that range from Titanic-era gowns to the slinky, beaded creations of the 1920s. The exhibit also includes male attire (and at least one “downstairs” costume) as well as the gowns that swathed the upstairs Downton women.

“We wanted viewers who loved the show to be able to see the beauty that inspired the actors and allowed the characters to emerge,” says Nancy Lawson, the exhibition’s curator. “Costumes tell so many stories without words.”

So do the settings in which the Lightner presents the Downton garb. The museum’s staff transformed its Grand Ballroom Gallery into a series of rooms showcasing much of Otto Lightner’s original collection of furniture and fine art from the same period as “Downton Abbey.”

Lightner, who founded the museum in 1948, amassed a huge collection of furniture and art that had once belonged to wealthy Chicago families such as the Armours, the Pullmans and the Buckinghams, says the museum’s curator, Barry Myers. Visitors to the exhibit can learn a great deal about the Gilded Age, he says, including the rise of industrial wealth and the craftsmanship it inspired.

Much of the furniture and art on display has been in storage and hasn’t been seen in public for more than 50 years. Once again, the Gilded Age returns to what was once Henry Flagler’s Alcazar.

“Dressing Downton” has inspired a plethora of events at the Lightner, including special group tours and extended hours. For information, visit lightnermuseum.org/ dressing-downton.

just in time for Halloween, the Orange County Regional History Center’s “History in a Glass” series looks back with a shiver at a crime that shocked Orlando in 1938. Admission includes three handcrafted cocktails, plus food from a local restaurant. Members: $20, general admission $25. The event is from 6 to 9 p.m. at the History Center, 65 E. Central Blvd., Orlando, and is for guests 21 and older. Details: thehistorycenter.org or 407-836-7046.

more than 50 authors representing a wide range of genres will take part in a book fair at the Deltona Regional Library, 2150 Eustace Ave.

Florida historians at the fair include Bob Grenier, author of “Central Florida’s Civil War Veterans” and “Central Florida’s World War II Veterans,” and Robert Redd, author of “St. Augustine and the Civil War” and two histories of the city of New Smyrna Beach. Grenier is a member of the Tavares City Council and curator of the Lake County Historical Society Museum. Redd, who lives in Edgewater, is the executive director of the New Smyrna Museum of History.

The book fair includes workshops on publishing from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Workshops are $20 (free for students with ID). The afternoon portion of the fair is free. Authors will be available to meet folks and to sell and sign books from 1 to 4 p.m. All proceeds go toward purchasing items for the library. For more information, call Christy Jefferson at 386-218-4087.