Henry B. Plant Museum

헨리 B. 플랜트 박물관

The Henry B. Plant Museum is in Tampa, Florida, in the United States. It fills the south wing of a giant building that was once a luxury hotel, the Tampa Bay Hotel, and today is Plant Hall at the University of Tampa. The hotel opened on 5 February 1891 and was built by Henry B. Plant, a railroad businessman.

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At a glance

Country: United States
Location: Tampa, USA
Built: 1891
Type: Museum

Quick answers

Where is Henry B. Plant Museum?

Henry B. Plant Museum is in Tampa, USA, United States.

When was Henry B. Plant Museum built?

Henry B. Plant Museum was built in 1891.

The former Tampa Bay Hotel, a Moorish Revival palace with silver onion-domed minarets, now a museum.

The building is famous for its Moorish Revival style, which copies the look of buildings from North Africa and Spain. Silver-coloured minarets and domes rise over the roofline. The museum tells the story of wealthy hotel guests during the Gilded Age and of the hotel's role in the Spanish-American War.

A very modern hotel for 1891

The Tampa Bay Hotel had 511 rooms and cost more than 3 million dollars. It was a quarter of a mile long and sat on 6 acres. It had the first elevator ever installed in Florida, and that elevator still works. Its rooms were the first in Florida with electric lighting and telephones. The building was made of poured concrete and steel, and advertisements called it fireproof.

What does the museum show?

Plant travelled around Europe for two years collecting rich furniture, bronzes and art to fill his hotel. So much arrived that he had to sell some at auction. Today the museum is arranged like a historic house, showing objects where they were originally used. Its exhibits focus on tourists of the Gilded Age, the lifestyle of elite guests, and the hotel's use during the Spanish-American War.