Cypress and heart pine, limestone, brick, stucco, red tile and tin, steel and glass. This is Florida architecture. Its rich variety can surprise you. From 17th-century Indian missions to gleaming postmodern towers in city centers, simple coastal fishing villages to the latest synthesis of architectural traditions in trendy seaside resorts, fantastic Victorian palaces to the Magic Kingdom, rough pioneer homesteads to white-columned plantation houses - Florida architecture is full of fascinating contrasts. And there's always an element of fantasy.

The fantasy of Victorian hotels - the Alcazar in St. Augustine, Breakers in Palm Beach, and Tampa Bay Hotel in Tampa - is matched by the whimsy of Miami Beach's Art Deco hotels. Extravagant Spanish fantasy homes in Palm Beach find their counterpoint in Jacksonville's tropical reinterpretation of the Prairie style and the Mediterranean inspired homes of Tampa's Davis Island. The enthusiasm for a new life in Florida is reflected in the wide porches and intricate woodwork of Victorian homes in Key West, Mt. Dora, and Apalachicola and in the Craftsman bungalows and turn-of-the-century revival style homes of Orlando and Pensacola's North Hill. The creative energy of the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world in Lakeland is duplicated by the largest collection of Tiffany glassworks at the Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park.

Florida museums are home to world-class art collections and high-profile traveling exhibitions. Florida is a kind of Eden. Wealthy collectors and artists have been drawn here for more than a century. Art and architecture catch their dreams. Buildings as art, art in buildings, a profusion of public art. Florida is always moving forward, blending the new with the old. Come experience the creativity of the Sunshine State.