Henry B. Plant Hall at the University of Tampa has built a legacy as an intricate, respected architectural building. Its various design elements of brick, steel, slopes, minarets, and gilding construct the ornate feel that earns it a reputation of elegance and the building’s literal and culturally reverent stature.
Plant Hall is described as “the crown jewel of Tampa’s skyline” by The Chiselers on their website. The Chiselers is an organization dedicated to the preservation and maintenance of the beloved building. What started in 1959 by Sunny Delo and her friends has evolved into a cornerstone organization named The Chiselers, a name tied to the first preservation work the group did, restoring Henry B. Plant Hall’s original floor tiles by hand. Since then, the organization has tenderly cared for Plant Hall through continuous repairs, all dedicated to preserving the structure’s original aesthetic integrity, funded by grants and donation matching since 1996.
The crown, (that is, the roof) of Tampa’s “crown jewel,” had seen better days, but thanks to a grant from the State of Florida and a donation from The Chiselers, a wide-scale renovation project of the roof began in 2022. On the priority list was the Music Room’s roof, a protruding room with a unique oblong disc shape, featuring a distinct curve before rising into a dome. The Music Room’s roof is the right roof dome out of two that are on the building. Committed to keeping the structure’s sense of grandiosity and awe, the project of the Music Room’s roof required attractive and capable metal solutions found in ATAS’ products.
Featured on Plant Hall’s Music Room are ATAS 1 ½” Field-Lok panels in 24-gauge stainless steel. Field-Lok, a single- or double-locked roof panel that creates the traditional appearance of a standing seam, was an ideal design choice to meet the preservation needs of the roof’s historical appearance. From panel profile to the metal type, deliberate attention to detail curates Plant Hall’s distinctive, Moorish exterior. Stainless steel roofing is both an aesthetic and practical choice for this project. The steel has a shiny, silver glint that matches the personality of the building, but is also ideal in places like Tampa where corrosion could be a concern. In places with year-round humidity and a risk of salt spray, such as Tampa, metal roofing is more ideal than traditional asphalt shingles. Stainless steel has excellent corrosion- and rust-resistant properties that make it a low-maintenance roofing material with a long lifespan, often outperforming the lifespans of most buildings. Qualities of stainless-steel metal roofing perfectly meet the needs of a U.S. National Historic Landmark such as Plant Hall’s Music Room, where the goal of retrofitting is to honor the architecture of an existing building, preserving its beauty while ensuring longevity.
At 4,500 square feet, the roof of Plant Hall’s Music Room is intricate. It features layers of tapered panels of various sizes and complex circumferences to accommodate the existing structures’ eaves, domes, and its distinctive curved protrusion. The Music Room roof has multiple hips, valleys, flashing transitions, and trims that required a proven metal panel manufacturer and skilled installers. To accommodate such an ornate design, the project required meticulous measurements and precise fabrication. The ATAS 1 ½” Field-Lok panels offered precision in fabrication, meeting custom length and width needs to revitalize the Music Room’s roof, delivering on uncompromised quality and aesthetics. Concealed fastener panels such as Field-Lok have hidden clips that ensure a seamless appearance in applications. The fastener also reduces the risk of water intrusion and bolsters performance in high-wind areas. Field-Lok proved to be both an aesthetic and practical choice for Henry B. Plant Hall.
“This architectural masterpiece was built in 1891 during a time when Henry Bradley Plant was building an empire of railroads, steamships, and hotels. He built the Tampa Bay Hotel as a palace, symbolic of his empire,” The Chiselers say on their website.
Palace elements of Plant’s design certainly remain, evidenced by its onion-shaped domes, cupolas, and minarets topped with crescent finials, all contributing to the structure’s opulence. The hard work from all of those continually involved in the maintenance of Henry B. Plant Hall, from The Chiselers, contractors, architects, and more, has paid off with award recognition.
The Henry B. Plant Hall Music Room won first place in the Commercial Roof category of ATAS’ 2025 Project of the Year Awards. The architect of the project was Rowe Architects. The panels were installed by the contractor, Quality Roofing, Inc., distributed from Spec Building Materials. The project was also featured in Florida Roofing Magazine, with Quality Roofing, Inc. being awarded a Spotlight Trophy for the Advancement of Roofing (S.T.A.R.) award for their stellar work on the project. The S.T.A.R. award, given by the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association, Inc. (FRSA), acknowledges projects that demonstrate excellence in the roofing industry, considering finished appearance, execution, and technical complexity.
Many elements contribute to the everlasting beauty of Henry B. Plant Hall, one of which is a well-chosen, aesthetically pleasing, high-performing roof panel that honors the building’s legacy. ATAS’ 1 ½” Field-Lok delivers on preserving the building’s historical, architectural character through modern, metal materials, shining brightly atop the Music Room.
Learn more about 1 ½ in. Field-Lok.
Learn more about The Chiselers and their preservation of Henry B. Plant Hall.
Learn more about Henry B. Plant Hall from 83 Degrees Media and Shumaker Architecture.