Tampa Bay Hotel

The Tampa Bay Hotel opened in 1891 and was the jewel of Henry Plant’s vast transportation empire. The 511-room winter resort towered above Tampa’s scrub pines and rustic streets. Its Moorish Revival architecture with silver minarets, cupolas, and domes glistened under the Florida sun. Its fanciful style reflected Gilded Age opulence and America’s fascination with the exotic. Between 1891 and 1932, notable figures such as Anna Pavlova, Sarah Bernhardt, Booker T. Washington, John Philip Sousa...