Henry B. Plant Museum
Built in 1891 by railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant as the superchichi 511-room Tampa Bay Hotel, this ornate building is worth a trip across the river from downtown to the University of Tampa campus. Its 13 silver minarets and Moorish architecture, modeled after the Alhambra in Spain, make this National Historic Landmark a focal point of the Tampa skyline. Although the building is the highlight of a visit, don’t skip its contents: art and furnishings from Europe and Asia, plus exhibits that explain the history of the railroad resort, Florida’s early tourist industry, and the hotel’s role as a staging point for Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War. If you’re here in December, lucky you: the museum becomes the site of a Victorian Christmas Stroll, with each room dolled up in 19th-century Yuletide garb and carolers crooning.
Built in 1891 by railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant as the superchichi 511-room Tampa Bay Hotel, this ornate building is worth a trip across the river from downtown to the University of Tampa campus. Its 13 silver minarets and Moorish architecture, modeled after the Alhambra in Spain, make this National Historic Landmark a focal point of the Tampa skyline. Although the building is the highlight of a visit, don’t skip its contents: art and furnishings from Europe and Asia, plus exhibits that explain the history of the railroad resort, Florida’s early tourist industry, and the hotel’s role as a staging point for Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War. If you’re here in December, lucky you: the museum becomes the site of a Victorian Christmas Stroll, with each room dolled up in 19th-century Yuletide garb and carolers crooning.
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