Office Memorandum SAINT AUGUSTINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

-TO : Albert Manucy DATE:December 17, 1959

SFROM : Mrs. Charles Seymour asked me revise portion
of copy for the Old Spanish Treasury folder, as their
supply is now exhausted and they are planning to re-
SUBJECT: print. The original copy was evidently written by
Miss Emily Wilson, and of course claimed the 1690 date.
Attached is my sg--,stion for revised eopy relative to
its history, on which I would be glad to have your com-
ments. and suggestions.-

,, 4"j T'Van C.
{ '*" / .. ,- "








A Royal Treasury, .,f House of the Royal Treasurer
existed in St. Augustine considerably prior to the 1700's.
Records show that it was then built of wood. When Governor
Moore of South Carolina lifted his siege of St. Augustine
in 1702, the English set fire to the town and practically
all of its buildings were burned. After 1702 coquina came
into general use and the first story of the present struc-
ture was built of stone. During a later period, a second
story of wood was added.
Soon after St. Augustine and Florida were ceded to
Jo c.p p
the English in 1763, a Spanish agent, Juan.Elixio de la
Puente, made a map of the town, showing all its buildings
and their owners. This corner is shown as being occupied
by a "house of stone, belonging to Don Estevan de Pena, the
Royal Treasurer." The house is also clearly indicated on
later English maps as the site of the Spanish Treasury*
When Spanish rule returned to St. Augustine in 1783,
Don Estevan de Pena did not come back to claim his property
and it reverted to the Spanish crown. In the Spanish assess-
or's list of 1803, it is listed as a "house of coquina and
lot belonging to the king, which is call'the Old Treasury".
(It was probably referred to as the Old Treasury because,
during the second Spanish period, the Treasury and Accountancy
were housed in a building on the corner of Cathedral Place
and Charlotte Street, which has since disappeared)*








Like other unclaimed buildings, it was put up for
sale by the Spanish governor, and in 1804 was purchased by
Frandisco Xaviar Sanchez.. After 1821, when Florida was
acquired by the United States, it passed into the hands of
American owners, who made repairs and changes. Wood for
the renovated floors and doors was brought by sailing vessel
from New England, as the Setinole War (l835-42) made it im-
possible to secure good building material here*
In ....... the property was acquired by Dr. Seth Peck,
an American Physician. It was inherited by his granddaughter,
who occupied it over her entire life span of ...... years,
A
and died in the same room in which she was born. She willed
it to the City of St. Augustine to be be preserved as a relic
of the Sity's colorful past*