The Henry B. Plant Museum is housed in the 1891 Tampa Bay Hotel, now a National Historic Landmark and home to The University of Tampa During the 1880's, Henry Bradley Plant was building an empire of railroads, steamships and hotels. The hotel was financed by Plant personally, not investors, at a cost of $2,500,000 and an additional $500,000 was spent for furnishings. It took two years to build, covered six acres and was one-quarter mile long. The 511 rooms were the first in Florida to be electrified. Advertised as completely fireproof, the structure is built of poured concrete reinforced with steel rails and cables in between floors. The building featured all of the latest luxuries including a billiard room, barbershop, shoeshine service, beauty shop, flower shop, telegraph office, formal dining room, Grand Salon, Music Room with orchestra and telephones in all guest rooms.
The grounds of the Hotel were as awe-inspiring as the building itself, spanning 150 acres. The amenities included an 9-hole golf course, flower conservatory, tennis courts, croquet courts, boathouse, hunting and fishing grounds, stables, racetrack, kennels, exposition hall with Florida products on view, casino with 2000 seat auditorium, heated indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, spa facilities and card rooms, totaling 21 buildings in all.
After the death of Henry Plant, the building was bought by the city of Tampa in 1904. It continued to operate as a hotel until 1932. In 1933, the Tampa Municipal Museum was established in order to preserve the legacy of the Tampa Bay Hotel, becoming the Henry B. Plant Museum in 1974. Today its mission is to interpret the Tampa Bay Hotel at the turn of the century and the Victorian lifestyles of America's Gilded Age for people of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of interest.
We were so impressed with the architecture of this magnificent building; as you can see by the photos, no details were spared either inside or outside.
Beneath towering silver minarets, the extravagantly adorned former Tampa Bay Hotel captures the spirit of the season – Victorian style. There were 14 exhibit rooms; each dazzling with trimmed trees uniquely designed in 19th century themes and antique holiday accessories. While strolling down the Grand Hallway, you could just imagine the ladies in all their splendor, on the arms of well-dressed gentlemen, attending the wonderful Christmas parties, singing carols, and enjoying spiced wine.
Christmas traditions are created by families and passed along from generation to generation. These time-honored rituals thrill us when we are children and later, as adults, they call forth memories that comfort us in an uncertain world. We hope that you, too, are making Christmas memories that last forever in your family!
After a stroll through the beautiful Victorian Christmas, we headed for downtown Tampa. Patt was hoping that she could show us the interior of the Old Tampa Theatre, which is listed as one of the top 10 iconic show places in the World. They opened the doors on October 15, 1926, and was the first to offer indoor air conditioning in Tampa. Showing as it's first picture, the silent Ace of Cads.
Back then, tickets cost 10 cents apiece, ushers worked the rows of the 1,446-seat auditorium, and an organist charmed audiences on a Mighty Wurlitzer during intermission. The theater—saved from demolition by historic preservationists nearly four decades ago—draws crowds to downtown Tampa with classic movie series, independent features, live concerts, even a filmmaking camp for local students. Unfortunately we were not able to view the inside but Dick and I will make a trip back in the near future to see a movie!
Downtown Tampa is like any other urban city - several blocks of empty businesses, boarded up windows and graffiti, and then a couple of blocks away thriving restaurants, shops and other businesses.
From downtown Tampa we headed to to an area called Channelside, which sits directly on Tampa Bay. Here we found the aquarium and a shopping district with restaurants. We'll save the aquarium for another day but we did eat lunch at Bennigans (no Linda, I didn't take any pictures); food was okay, but the waiter, well he was another story. Can any one say "penny tip."
It was a good day and one we will remember for a long time.
Due to the fact that uploading so many pictures was eating away at our month GB count, I have gone back to using Smilebox for our photos. For more pictures please click here.
Happy Trails,
Dick, Jo & Harley
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