Henry B. Plant became a successful and wealthy railroad magnate in the second half of the 19th century. He arrived in Tampa when it had 760 residents. With a rail terminus and a deep port developed by Plant, Tampa grew to a bustling city of 15,000 people within ten years.
Plant decided Tampa should have a hotel. He had traveled extensively and acquired rail carloads of stylish furnishings in European auctions. His architect persuaded Plant to build a Moorish-styled hotel with minarets. The 511-room resort hotel called the Tampa Bay Hotel was opened in 1891.
The hotel was a hit with wealthy visitors. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, it was the U.S. military's base of operations. Theodore Roosevelt had a suite at the hotel.
The financial strains of the Depression put an end to luxury tourism and the hotel closed. A junior college was given the right to use one end of the building. Today it is the University of Tampa. College offices and classrooms still use one end, while a museum is at the other end.
The Henry B. Plant Museum displays a pretty random assortment of Victorian items that had been in use in the hotel's heyday. We were there at the start of the Christmas season. All of the museum rooms were extensively decorated.
John Philip Souza often stayed at the hotel. The stairwell to his suite is colorfully decorated with nutcrackers and garlands.
4 comments:
Fun architecture.
Thank you for the wonderful photos and the history of this hotel, now museum. The hotel is an example of early 20th Century luxury travel made possible by the railroads.
My son and his wife were married in the Tampa Hotel. I bet you were interested in those nutcrackers!
They chose quite a place for their wedding.
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