History of The Tampa Museum of Art

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When the Tampa Museum of Art was first opened, it was clear that its original building was too small for its collection. Thus began a long period of debate and consideration on how to move forward with expansion or relocation. In 2001, architect Rafael Vinoly proposed an ambitious $76 million building, which included a metal canopy overhanging city streets; however, this proved to be too expensive and potentially dangerous in high winds. Later, during Mayor Pam Iorio's term from 2003 to 2005, several abandoned or underutilized downtown buildings were proposed for relocation of the museum, such as an old federal courthouse and a small office tower. Unfortunately, these plans fell through due to conversion costs associated with the courthouse and disagreements on the appraised price of the office tower.

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In 2006, the City of Tampa and museum board agreed to use public and private funds to build a $33 million 66,000-square-foot new museum just a half-block north of its original location at Curtis Hixon Park. This project also included construction of a new home for what is now known as the Glazer Children's Museum. The old museum building had to be demolished in order to make way for this development. As a result, the Tampa Museum of Art temporarily moved operations to West Tampa's Centro Espanol building in June 2007 until groundbreaking for their own new building took place on April 18th 2008. Finally this project reached completion in February 2010 when the grand opening of the new Tampa Museum of Art took place. Learn more about our company Coastal Outdoors! 

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Address: 120 W Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa, FL 33602

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Hours: 

Monday 10 AM–5 PM

Tuesday 10 AM–5 PM

Wednesday 10 AM–5 PM

Thursday 10 AM–8 PM

Friday 10 AM–5 PM

Saturday 10 AM–5 PM

Sunday 10 AM–5 PM

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Phone: (813) 274-8130

Architect: Stanley Saitowitz

Opened: February 6, 2010