From Hymns to Hospitality: The Storied Journey of the Tiny Church on Saragossa Street, St. Augustine
Beneath vaulted ceilings that once carried Sunday hymns, this 1920s chapel has been beautifully reimagined as a charming vacation escape—inviting guests to stay within its historic walls in America’s oldest city.
By Robin Jay
In a city where history is layered like coquina stone—century upon century—few places capture the spirit of St. Augustine quite like the tiny little chapel at 58 Saragossa Street. Tucked quietly between historic homes in one of the nation’s oldest neighborhoods, the structure has lived many lives: a Lutheran chapel, a Latter-day Saints meetinghouse, a lovingly restored private residence, and now a charming vacation retreat where guests can quite literally sleep beneath the rafters of Florida history.
Its story begins in the early decades of the twentieth century, when St. Augustine was experiencing the ripple effects of one of Florida’s most transformative figures: Henry Flagler.
A railroad magnate and business partner of John D. Rockefeller in founding Standard Oil, Flagler reshaped Florida’s east coast through the Florida East Coast Railway, connecting once-remote coastal communities with the wealth and visitors of America’s industrial age.
In St. Augustine, Flagler developed a grand vision known as the Model Land Company, a collection of residential and commercial properties surrounding his landmark hotels—the Ponce de León Hotel (today’s Flagler College) and the Alcazar Hotel, now the elegant Casa Monica Resort and Spa.
By the 1920s, this area was emerging as the hub of what many called the “American Riviera.” Elegant homes, churches, and civic buildings rose among brick streets shaded by live oaks and palms.
Among those seeking to establish roots in this growing community were members of a fledgling Lutheran congregation.
Today, the historic church lives on as Castillo de la Paz—“Castle of Peace” and it now welcomes a different kind of congregation—travelers seeking an unforgettable stay inside a piece of the nation’s oldest city.—a storybook retreat where preserved architecture and modern comforts invite guests to, quite literally, sleep beneath the rafters of Florida history.
“When you step inside, you can almost hear the echoes of hymns rising through the vaulted ceiling—reminding you that this charming little chapel has welcomed generations long before today’s travelers.”
— Robin Jay, Publisher, Eloquence Magazine
A Chapel Rooted in History: Faith, Memory, and Meaning
To understand Castillo de la Paz, one must begin not in the 1920s—but nearly four centuries earlier.
The name of the original congregation—Memorial Lutheran Church of the Martyrs—was chosen in remembrance of the French Huguenots, early Protestant settlers who arrived in Florida in 1564 and established a colony near present-day Jacksonville.
Just one year later, Spanish forces led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés captured the settlement. What followed was one of the earliest and most tragic religious conflicts on American soil, as hundreds of these Protestant settlers were executed for their faith.
It was in their memory—the first Protestant presence on this continent—that the St. Augustine congregation would later name their church.
A Chapel Is Born on Saragossa Street
The local Lutheran congregation formally began on December 14, 1924, when a small group of worshippers gathered to establish a church in St. Augustine.
Within a year, their vision took physical form.
On November 19, 1925, the congregation purchased land, once a parcel from Flagler’s Model Land Company, at the corner of Riberia and Saragossa Streets for $10,500,
The effort was deeply communal.
A widow contributed $25—an act of generosity that inspired others. Even the Sunday School raised $75 for the project. Plans were drawn for a modest chapel costing approximately $3,500, and by August 14, 1927, the cornerstone was laid.
Inside that cornerstone, a copper time capsule was placed—containing an issue of The Lutheran magazine, a silver coin, and a St. Augustine Record newspaper from the time.
By October 2, 1927, the chapel opened its doors to 25 members and 33 Sunday School children. Its interior reflected both simplicity and devotion.
“Miss Clara Hinman gave her piano; Mr. G.H. Weber built and carved the altar, pulpit, lectern and choir rostrum,” wrote Eleanor Loeske, a member of the Memorial Lutheran Church of the Martyrs, who researched the church’s history for its 100-year anniversary celebration in 2024. “A hymn board was purchased for $7.00; Mrs. Ed Wise gave the Fair linen for the altar and Mrs. A.E. Baya made the green pulpit and lectern parament hangings. In addition, the pews were made by a Mr. Pitts in West Augustine, installed by the men of the church and paid for by the Ladies Aid Society at a cost of $17.50 each.”
A Living Church Through Changing Times
The Saragossa Street chapel served as a spiritual home for decades and lived many lives even before becoming a home.
During the early 1930s, the church faced challenges and was temporarily rented to a Baptist congregation. It was later revived and continued serving its Lutheran community.
“On November 1, 1946, Dr. Horace Fort Marten became the new pastor and the congregation volunteered to build the new Sunday School Building [now the church home’s annex library and master bedroom] and the parsonage – a home for the pastor that is now a private residence,” Loeske wrote.
In 1954 and beyond, improvements continued: According to Loeske, “An electronic organ replaced the piano. Fresh paint, new carpeting, kneeling cushions, replacement of electric bulb candelabra with wax candles, replacing the oil space heaters with electric heat and air, addition of an altar rail and baptismal font, and kneeling benches installed at each pew. Also, a provision for deaf interpretation was begun at this time.”
But by the 1970s, the church had once again outgrown its space.
In 1976, the Lutheran congregation relocated, and the Saragossa Street chapel was sold to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for $55,000, continuing its life as a place of worship.
But by the mid-1990s, the building’s future was uncertain. It seems the blessing of church growth wasn’t such a blessing for the little chapel. Why? It had no parking lot. Limited street parking made it challenging for large congregations to attend services.
A Labor of Love: The Mauro Family Restoration
When the chapel came up for sale again in 1995, Amy and Jason Mauro were already part of its story.
They lived just four houses away.
Amy, an artist, had long been drawn to the building—and to the idea of transforming a historic structure into a home.
“I had always thought it would be cool to live in a place that had been something else,” she said.
Jason, a Professor of American Literature at the University of North Florida, agreed.
What followed was persistence, passion, and purpose.
After repeated attempts to reach the sellers, Amy and Jason secured a viewing and submitted a bid.
There was only one competing offer—someone who intended to divide the property into apartments.
Amy wrote a letter instead.
She explained that they wanted to restore the chapel to its former glory and live in it as a family.
At the time, there was even discussion that the building might be demolished due to asbestos.
Instead, their $70,000 offer was accepted, and the transformation began.
Living Inside the Chapel: A Family’s Story
The move was immediate—and unforgettable.
“We carried our mattresses over the first night,” Amy said. “We all slept on the floor of the church.”
Using the adjacent rectory for basic living needs, the family began restoring the sanctuary piece by piece.
“We just walked our furniture down the street, one thing at a time. It was the easiest move I’ve ever done.”
The home took shape through creativity and resourcefulness. The chapel itself had been painted entirely white, inside and out.
Amy and Jason began layering warmth into the space—adding wainscoting, building the kitchen, and shaping the sanctuary into a home.
The pool table was one of the first additions, signaling that this would be a space for living, gathering, and joy.
With limited resources, they relied on creativity.
Oversized pantry shelving came from a discarded set at an ABC Liquor store. Furniture was sourced from yard sales and salvage finds.
At one point, Amy even enlisted her young son to help load a toilet from the side of the road into her car.
“He was less than thrilled,” she laughed.
Some of those pieces remain today.
A dining table crafted from an antique map board, a University of North Florida Library card catalog cabinet, and a primitive jelly cupboard—each piece telling its own quiet story.
Today, the card catalog cabinet holds music CDs and the primitive jelly cupboard holds stereo equipment.
Rebuilding, One Project at a Time
The restoration itself was anything but simple.
“The church had been built entirely by parishioners,” Amy explained. “So, it was kind of slapped together.”
The electrical system had to be completely redone.
The annex—once a separate home—had been awkwardly converted into classrooms, complete with carpet glued directly onto wood floors.
Jason had no construction background—but approached the project with patience and determination.
“He would research everything and just figure it out,” Amy said.
Repainting the sanctuary ceiling alone required 15 gallons of paint.
Jason constructed scaffolding and climbed high into the rafters, carefully painting the soaring ceiling.
“He would basically dangle up there,” Amy said. “I had to leave the house—it looked so scary.”
Later, he crawled through the rafters to install lighting and hang curtains when the loft was added.
“Jason was a tall man—it was quite the challenge.”
The couple installed the spiral staircase by hand and reinforced the loft with a structural beam.
A Home That Welcomed Everyone
For the Mauro family, life inside the chapel was joyful, unconventional, and full of community.
Their daughter loved to sing in the great room, her voice echoing through the vaulted space.
The children were even allowed to draw on the walls—knowing they would be refinished anyway.
“Our Halloween parties became kind of famous,” Amy said. “Kids running everywhere in the sanctuary—it was magical.”
Because the home still looked like a church, visitors often wandered in unannounced.
“I had to put up a sign saying it was a private home,” she laughed.
Over the course of 15 years, the home became something of a local landmark.
“I’m pretty sure most of St. Augustine stepped inside at some point.”
Where Sacred Architecture Meets Modern Comfort
Today, the restored chapel lives on as Castillo de la Paz, offering more than 3,000 square feet of living space.
The sanctuary remains the heart of the home—a dramatic great room beneath soaring vaulted ceilings. Within the antique brick walls and original Gothic church windows, modern comforts blend with historic character.
As the publisher of Eloquence, my family and I had the honor of spending a weekend inside the historic church to research this story. When you step inside, you can almost hear the echoes of hymns rising through the vaulted ceiling—reminding you that this charming little chapel has welcomed generations long before today’s travelers.
The church foyer features a writing desk where old wicker offering baskets lie. The quaint space reminds of the many church parishioners who once greeted one another on Sunday mornings. The Mauro family has move on, but the new owner has graciously turned the tiny restored historic church into a lovely vacation retreat for the public to enjoy.
The foyer also hosts a hidden closet behind the entrance door, now cleverly transformed into a bathroom. What once may have been a coat closet or storage closet, now adds a quaint powder room to the main floor of the sanctuary home.
Through French doors, guests enter the former sanctuary with its soaring vaulted ceilings and a spiral staircase that leads to the loft bedroom. In it, it’s easy to imagine where the church choir may have sang, and a church bell may have once clanged, alerting St. Augustine that a service was about to begin.
Within the antique brick walls of the loft, a built-in shower room and separate water closet flank a queen-size bed centered beneath the steeple, with a grand window behind it casting beams of morning sunlight into the space.
The kitchen itself is built on the sanctuary alter. Amy chuckled when she recalled the reclaimed clay farmhouse-style “8-million-pound” sink she purchased for a great price – and that it took some brainstorming to figure a way to get the heavy item into the church and installed. But it fits in beautifully.
The kitchen features everything vacationing guests need to prepare meals, complete with a dishwasher, stove, a pantry full of cookware and a full-size refrigerator. To the left of the stove is a mudroom transformed into a convenient laundry room.
To the left of the kitchen is delightful coffee nook and a charming bistro table where you can sit and sip your morning cup of joe and reminisce the countless Sunday sermons once delivered in this sacred space.
And to the right of the elevated kitchen, you’ll find a hallway leading to the annex. Along this passageway, Amy recalls a small but meaningful architectural detail that spoke to the building’s earlier life as a place of worship.
Hidden within the floor was once a simple opening that led directly to the earth below, designed for the respectful return of holy water used during church services. Certain congregations believed that sacred water should not be discarded through conventional plumbing, but instead returned to the ground from which it came.
Though the opening has since been covered, it remains a quiet and fascinating reminder of the chapel’s spiritual past—an almost symbolic thread connecting the present-day home to its original purpose.
In the annex, now transformed into a library lounge, the space includes books, a coffee station, television, and sofa bed. It’s another comfortable space to relax and reflect on the children who once played and laughed while attending Sunday School classes back-in-the-day.
The annex library is also a great place for guests to sleep. Overall, Castillo de la Paz sleeps up to 10 guests in this historic St. Augustine church home.
Beyond the annex library lies the master bedroom and bathroom. The spacious room features a television, as well as a window overlooking the garden courtyard. Two comfortable sitting chairs offer a place to read and relax.
Amy’s artistic imprint can still be seen today.
Using a French technique called pique assiette, she created the colorful mosaic tilework on the claw-foot cast iron tub and sink in the annex bathroom—transforming broken dishware into something beautiful and lasting.
Between the structures, a quiet courtyard offers moments of serene stillness—punctuated by the soft clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages passing along the historic streets.
Plan Your Stay at Castillo de la Paz
I can tell you firsthand, there is something incredibly special about gathering with your family in a place that has brought people together for more than a century.
Few places allow travelers to experience history so intimately.
At Castillo de la Paz, you are not simply visiting St. Augustine—you are living inside one of its stories.
Whether for a family getaway, a birthday party, dinner party, baby or wedding shower or other celebration, Castillo de la Paz offers an experience that is as meaningful as it is memorable.
How to Book Castillo de la Paz
In a city defined by centuries of stories, Castillo de la Paz stands as a testament to preservation, creativity, and the enduring power of place.
Where hymns once echoed, laughter now fills the space.
And in that quiet transformation, the chapel continues to fulfill its original purpose—bringing people together.
Reservations are available through Airbnb at: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1543573132352563524; or through VRBO at: https://www.vrbo.com/4949111; or directly through the property manager, In The Sun Vacation Rentals, at https://inthesunvr.directstays.com/property/the-church-house-walk-to-downtown-sleeps-10.
Note of Gratitude:
Eloquence would like to thank the current owner of Castillo de la Paz for allowing my family to experience the property’s charm firsthand. We wish you well in your efforts to have the beautiful historic church home listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Thanks also to Amy Mauro and her late husband Jason for transforming the historic church into a lovingly restored home and providing priceless memories and photos.
Thank you to Melissa Dow, wife of Pastor Dow who presides at the newer St. Augustine Memorial Lutheran Church of the Martyrs. Mrs. Dow provided detailed history of the property as researched and prepared by the late but beloved member Eleanor Loeske for the church’s 100th anniversary in 2024.
Thank you also to Church History Research Consultant Brian Passantino of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah for generously researching and providing valuable information and photos.
Finally, thank you to the University of Miami Library that has preserved and archived the historic details of Henry Flagler’s Model Land Company, which helped transform Florida into the vibrant state that it is today.
