It took about 30 minutes to get to my destination with Uber. The remarkably ornate Henry B. Plant Museum is now on the University of Tampa campus. Completed in 1891, it opened as the Tampa Bay Hotel, a luxury winter resort. It was built by the railroad and steamship magnate Henry B. Plant.

The building is a striking example of Moorish Revival architecture, classified broadly under the Victorian Architecture era. I’ve seen many examples of Victorian-era structures, but this hotel-turned-museum might be the most extravagant. The hotel blends elements from Islamic, Byzantine, and Spanish styles.

The building opened as a museum in 1933 and now serves also as an administrative and academic building for the university. The original hotel is a far cry from the Hampton Inn. Another example of how the modern incarnation has been dumbed down and cheapened. I’m glad the building is well preserved, if only to show how grand things were in the past.

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