Moorish minarets rise over Plant Hall here at the University of Tampa, known officially as UTampa and once nicknamed UT or Tampa U, a private university accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools that today offers more than 200 programs of study, including 19 master's degrees. But look up - Plant Hall was not always a campus building. The school began in 1931 as a junior college housed in a local high school, and in 1933 it became a four-year university when it moved onto the grounds of the recently closed Tampa Bay Hotel.
The large, lavish central building of Henry B. Plant's resort was converted into Plant Hall, and the Moorish minarets atop this distinctive structure have long been a symbol of both the school and of the city of Tampa. UTampa grew gradually through the 20th century and weathered financial difficulty, including a decision in the 1970s to fold its locally popular football program because of costs. Successful fundraising and marketing beginning in the 1990s helped put the school on more stable footing, and since then it has extensively expanded and modernized.
Notice the minarets crowning the converted hotel that shaped this campus.