Burgert Brothers celebrated in new book
by Chip Weiner
The Burgert Brothers are a celebrated commercial photography company who made their home in Tampa, Florida. From 1917 through the mid 1960s they recorded a remarkable visual history of people, places, and events in the city and beyond. Through the Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library and The University of South Florida Digital Collections, the public may access the Burgert works to view or purchase prints inline.
The Burgert Brothers Studio, once located at 1515 7th Avenue in Ybor City, is now a 1-story retail store
To honor their remarkable work and create a record of what things look like now, I spent nearly half a year rephotographing scenes by standing where the Burgerts stood (when possible), envisioned what they saw, and made every effort to capture the image the same way they did. Lenses, composition, time of day, and extra elements in the original photo were all a part of taking another look.
WFLA Studios now stands where the Tampa Electric Peter O. Knight station once stood on the banks of the west side of the Hillsborough River near downtown Tampa
The book encompasses several sections of town including downtown, Bayshore, Ybor City, and Sulphur Springs.
The Dale Mabry corridor was a favorite subject for the company. Here, Home Depot is in the spot where the Tampa Jai-Alai Fronton was built.
Each image comes with some history or an explanation of the original shot and what happened then and now.
The recently closed Don Vincente de Ybor Historic Inn took the place of the “Clinica” that once served cigar factory workers
In some instances, such as the one above, titles form the images from the collection are researched and corrected. This photo is recorded as, “Corner of 7th Avenue in Ybor City.” Upon enlargement and inspection it turns out this image was taken at 9th Avenue and 14th Street, which made more sense as that put it right across the street from the largest cigar factory at the time.
Tampa Icons, like the original Goody Goody at 1119 Florida Avenue were all part of the mix in recreating what the Burgerts saw.
Over 150 images and 180 pages of Tampa then and now come together in this one-of-a-kind book. Want to see more? Books are available through this website