Tampa: a city steeped in heritage

Simon Calder takes a historical tour around the city on the west coast of Florida

They call it “Florida’s original Magic Kingdom”. And when you see the Gilded Age opulence of the Tampa Bay Hotel, resplendent on the western bank of the Hillsborough River, you will understand why.

"Imperial Morocco meets Tsarist Russia in the Florida sunshine”, is the note I made when first I saw the preposterous towers and imposing facade of the hotel. When this astonishingly indulgent railroad resort opened in 1891, the city’s fortunes changed dramatically.

Henry B Plant was the railroad baron who put Tampa on the map. He billed the city as “the coming New York of the South”.

Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt and Babe Ruth stayed here (though not all at the same time) before it ceased operation as a hotel in 1932. Yet while many Florida mansions from the same era have long been lost, the Tampa Bay Hotel survived by handing the building over to the University of Tampa – on the proviso that its character was maintained and that one wing was preserved for the future as a tribute to the ambition of the past.

That wing became the Henry B Plant Museum, and unlike most collections of past lifestyles, it contains the furnishings and ornaments that were here when the hotel opened: carpets from Britain, mirrors and tapestries from France and vases from China.

The hotel cost $3m to build, which at the time made it probably the most expensive in the world – but by 1905 it was sold to the city for a fraction of the cost.

“A kingdom like none had seen,” was the claim, and it endures today. The university has taken good care of the 19th-century gem.

Take a free historic streetcar to Centro Ybor

The late Victorian era was crucial for Tampa. In the 1880s a Cuban cigar magnate named Vicente Martinez Ybor opened a cigar factory on a patch of scrub just east of downtown Tampa. It became Ybor City, and remains a fascination repository of Florida’s social history.

In the late 19th century Tampa had the highest Cuban population of any city in the US, and so the father of Cuban independence, Jose Marti, recruited revolutionaries here. A park has been dedicated to him, and it’s officially Cuban soil

Today you can reach the area, centred on La Septima Avenida (Seventh Avenue), very easily on the free historic streetcar from downtown Tampa, and be guided around by Ybor City Historic Walking Tours. You will see the casitas – small houses built for the workers – ­­and the wild chickens running around the streets of Ybor City, descended from the birds people used to keep in their back yards.

Fly on 18 September 2019, direct from London Heathrow to Tampa with Virgin Atlantic from only £659pp. This offer is based on a 7 night stay at the 3* Hyatt Place Tampa Busch Gardens in a standard room, on a room only basis. This offer is based on 2 adults sharing. For more information or to book, please visit myamericaholiday or call 020 8290 9751.

Car hire from Tampa International Airport, Florida with Hertz starts from £25 a day. For road trip inspiration, head to the Hertz American Road Trip Planner and discover iconic and off-the-beaten track routes, downloadable maps and insider guides.

SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment offer a 3-Park Ticket which offers 14 days unlimited entry to Busch Gardens, SeaWorld Orlando and Aquatica Orlando from £114 per adult and £109 per child. For more information, visit seaworldparks

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