Project Description

Not quite Europe. Not quite the Middle East. Entirely Tampa.

The minaret towers of the Tampa Bay Hotel are one of the most unexpected silhouettes in American architecture — Moorish Revival domes of silver-clad metal rising above red brick detailing, topped with gold crescent finials against a sky that’s almost too blue to be real. Henry Plant built this hotel in 1891 and spared absolutely nothing. Thirteen minarets, cupolas, and towers crown the roofline in a skyline that looks borrowed from Constantinople and planted firmly in Florida.

The building now houses the University of Tampa and the Henry B. Plant Museum — but these towers still stop people mid-step. Up close the craftsmanship is remarkable. Ribbed metal cladding, Moorish horseshoe arches, decorative brickwork transitions, and that crescent catching the Florida sun like it was always meant to be there.

Plant wanted his hotel to be unforgettable. Mission accomplished — going on 135 years.