Victorian Christmas Stroll

Every year the Henry B. Plant Museum decorates for Christmas and hosts a Victorian Christmas Stroll. This year my Sweetie took the boys and I to see the museum and the decorations. The museum is located in one wing of the the old Tampa Bay Hotel which is now the main building for The University of Tampa.

Henry Plant was a railroad tycoon during the Gilded Age in America. He built the Tampa Bay Hotel to attract visitors to Florida. Opened in 1891, the hotel is a striking brick building with moorish-style windows, stainless steel minerets, and ornate gingerbread. Teddy Roosevelt even used the hotel as a base of operations in Tampa for his Rough Riders before setting out for Cuba to fight in the Spanish-American War.

A small hint of the architecture. I have gads more photos!

Wreaths hung on the lobby windows overlooking the front veranda.

Detail of fireplace mantle deocrations.

One of the fireplaces in the gentlemen's Writing & Reading Room. The decorations are embellished with such manly things as cigar boxes, cigars, and chess pieces.

These ornate mirrors lined the hallways. I wonder if they are the originals that used to hang in the guest rooms.



The Plant Railroad logo turned into a Christmas ornament.

Giant Victorian Christmas tree at the end of the hall. Notice the "Teddy" bear sitting in the rocker.