“It was reserved for the sagacious and enterprising railroad and steamboat magnate, Mr. H. B. Plant, to reap the honor of erecting in tropical Florida the most attractive, most original, and most beautiful hotel in the South, if not in the whole country; and it is a hotel of which the whole world needs to be advised. It has one vase, which is the admiration and wonder of all who behold it, in the grand office rotunda, where ladies and gentlemen congregate at all hours of the day and evening. The entire estate, including land and building, cost two millions of dollars, and the furniture and fittings half a million more. No one who does not see it and dwell in it for at least a day, can form the faintest idea of the comprehensiveness of its purpose, the breadth of its plan, the ideal refinement of its comforts, the noble scale of its luxuries. Nothing offends the eye or the taste at any point, and while the first view of the hotel exteriorly is impressive, the effect produced by a first glance on entering its broad and inviting portals is one of astonishment and delight. “The architecture of the Tampa Bay Hotel is Moorish, patterned after the palaces in Spain. The horseshoe and crescent are everywhere visible in its design, and minarets and domes tower above the great building, which is five stories high above the basement. The house is constructed of Atlanta red brick with rolled steel beams, and brick partitions, floors, and ceilings, and so is absolutely fire-proof. “Numerous flights of stone steps lead up by easy ascent to the long verandas that extend along each side of the structure. These piazzas vary in width from sixteen to twenty-six feet. The length of the main building is 511 feet, but with the solarium and dining-room, which are connected with it, the house affords a continuous walk of twelve hundred feet, and the walk around it on the outside is exactly one mile. On the building there are thirteen minarets and domes, each surmounted with a gilt crescent, making in all a complete lunar year. The hotel contains, nearly five hundred rooms. “The drawing-room, in perfect taste throughout, is a museum of beautiful things, embracing fine contrasts, rich harmonies, and pleasant innovations that render it indeed ‘a joy forever.’ Here there is an inlaid table which once graced the Tuileries, as did also three ebony and gold cabinets. On the table is a rare bit of sculpture, _The Sleeping Beauty_, in Carrara marble. There are a sofa and two chairs that were owned by Marie Antoinette. A set of four chairs may be seen that belonged to Louis Philippe. Then there are numerous French and Japanese cabinets, and above each is suspended a dazzling crystal mirror. All these and hundreds of other wonderful things were personally secured in Europe by Mr. Plant and his accomplished wife, while Boston, New York, and Grand Rapids have been drawn upon for what is best in their specialties in useful and ornamental furniture.