Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club
History
Pennsylvania businessman Aymer Vinoy Laughner purchased the site of the Renaissance Vinoy—overlooking Tampa Bay—in 1923 and commissioned architect Henry L. Taylor to design the Mediterranean Revival building. Two years and $3.5 million later, the 375-room Vinoy Park Hotel opened for business. During the early 1940s, the hotel was converted into a training facility for the Army Air Corps, and military cooks and bakers learned their trade here as well. The Vinoy reopened as a hotel in 1945 and continued operations until 1974. The salmon-colored hotel underwent a $93-million restoration and expansion in 1992 that added a guest tower and complete recreational facilities, including an 18-hole golf course designed by Ron Garl. Today the Vinoy is still the only luxury resort on Florida’s west coast.
