The Henry B. Plant Museum is housed in the south wing of Plant Hall, the former Tampa Bay Hotel. The museum displays furnishings and gilded art original to the hotel.
Exhibits trace the history of the hotel and the Tampa area.
The University of Tampa was established in 1931 as a private institution. The university occupies the former Tampa Bay Hotel, a Victorian-style building complete with Moorish revival architecture and minarets. The hotel was built in 1891 by Henry B. Plant, a transportation magnate who was instrumental in the reconstruction of the south. The administration building, Plant Hall, served as Theodore Roosevelt's headquarters in the Spanish-American War.