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History Nerd Post: Tampa Bay Hotel

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Henry B. Plant Museum on the campus of University of Tampa, formerly the Tampa Bay Hotel.

I believe I mentioned before my enjoyment of all things historical, combined with my great fortune of having a man who indulges the passion. Over the course of a recent anniversary celebration, we took a little jaunt to the Henry B. Plant Museum, located on the current campus of the University of Tampa. Before it was any of those things it was the Tampa Bay Hotel, the crown jewel of the Gulf Coast, completed by railroad magnate Henry Plant in 1891.

We discuss the ugliness of modern architecture at regular intervals in our house. The combination of utilitarian supremacy, expedience, and throw away mentality has made for large swaths of ugliness throughout many of our major cities and suburbs. Beauty is never a consideration, and when it is, what passes for beauty in the postmodern west is more accurately described as avant garde. However, there was a time when beauty permeated the buildings we built, and somehow they were useful as well.

The architecture, furnishings and history of this building was a delight to tour from beginning to end. Check out the mahogany interior of this elevator:

The cost to build this hotel in 1891 was $2,000,000. The furnishings were collected by Plant and his wife from all over the world and cost $500,000.

This door, in fact all of the rich wood trims and mouldings, were among my favorite parts of the hotel:

It was also quite a thrill to learn that Booker T. Washington spoke here as part of a fundraising tour for his Tuskeegee Institute. Washington is the black hsitorical figure I admire most for his philosophy of life and education.

Like Henry Flagler on the east coast of Florida, Plant spared no expense building his luxurious hotel which was admittedly, priced far out of the reach of the average American. Nevertheless, it speaks to a way of building things that we have long since abandoned.

How’s this for fishing attire?

Hope you enjoyed this History Nerd exploration of Florida history.


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