Richard Ellis ’19 discusses the Islamic influences in the architecture of the former Tampa Bay Hotel, home to the Plant Museum - Bay News 9

Richard Ellis has been studying Orientalist Architecture for as long as he’s lived in Tampa. 

“I’ve been in the city for a decade and so looking around at these familiar places from a vantage point is really refreshing,” said Ellis.

This is his first time he’s been inside a minaret at the former Tampa Bay Hotel, which is now Plant Hall at the University of Tampa. It’s 10 stories off the ground.

“It was built in the style of Islamic architecture because that style was associated with supreme luxury,” said Ellis.

The hotel was completed in 1891.

A teacher of Art History, Ellis helped interpret the Henry B. Plant Museum’s latest exhibition-- “Imagined East—Decorative Art and the Imperial Gaze.

Railroad magnate Henry B. Plant traveled the world and brought back international treasures for the hotel. One of the pieces on display is a painting of the Alcazar of Seville in Spain.

• View the video on Bay News 9.
• View Professor Richard Ellis' presentation "In the Shadow of the Crescent: The Tampa Bay Hotel & Islamic Architecture" at the Henry B. Plant Museum.