The iconic minarets of the University of Tampa have long defined the city’s skyline, first greeting northern visitors who arrived by train to stay at Henry B. Plant’s luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel at the turn of the 20th century. Built in 1891 by the railroad tycoon—who also owned the line that delivered his guests—the hotel embodied Gilded Age extravagance.

Plant died in 1899, and in 1905, the City of Tampa purchased the hotel and the surrounding 150 acres of land. The hotel closed in 1932, and in 1933, the Tampa Bay Junior College moved in. The college transformed into the University of Tampa, which signed a 99-year lease with the city in 1941 for $1 per year.

Since their construction, those minarets have been a beacon, a trademark of the city, and their Moorish-style architecture is a stark contrast to the surrounding modern buildings.

In celebration of its 50th year in October 1981, the school decided to paint the 13 minarets gold. It was part of a 20-year fundraising and expansion program. The $15,000 price tag should have been a clue as to the quality of the upgrade. No one had considered that the silver roofing material beneath the paint would expand and contract with Tampa’s weather. The gold paint cracked, peeled, and flaked away, leaving the spires mottled and unsightly. The Tampa Tribune mocked the fiasco as “The Midas Molt,” as dull silver reemerged beneath the failed finish.

Although the university was leasing the building from the city, painted the spires gold, and was responsible for its upkeep, in 1983, Mayor Bob Martinez put together a task force to research the restoration of the structures that suffered from the ugly peeling gold paint, 25 years of pigeon droppings, and termite damage. The estimated cost was $1.2 million. While people objected to using taxpayer money for a private school, the work was put out to bid in May, and construction began in July 1984. The resurfacing and repair of the structures took four years to complete.

  © Chip Weiner. All rights reserved