About

In 2006 the historic Maas Brothers building was demolished to make way for yet another skyscraper in downtown Tampa. However, due to the downturn in the economy, construction of the skyscraper never began. Currently, all that remains where the once majestic Maas Brothers building once stood is a barren, fenced-in lot.

Having lived in Tampa my entire life, I have seen many historic buildings fall into disrepair and, like the Maas Brothers building, eventually destroyed. However, I have also seen many of them, such as the Floridan Hotel, restored to their former glory. Witnessing the demise of the Maas Brothers building reminded me how, for many of these historic buildings, time is running out.

Many years ago, my wife, a Hillsborough County librarian, aware of my love for history and photography, introduced me to the Library’s collection of historic Burgert Brother photographs. These photographs, showing Tampa’s evolution over the past one hundred years, inspired me to revisit and re-photograph many of the historic sites shown in the photographs. I was curious as to what the city had looked like throughout its history and how much of its historical buildings still exist.

Re-photography is duplicating an older photograph by taking a newer photograph of the same scene at a later time. In the case of the Tampa Changing project, while not always possible due to the elapse in time, I have tried to be more precise by having my re-photograph taken from the same vantage point and at the same angle as the historic photograph. Therefore, when comparing the two photographs, taken between fifty to one hundred years apart, the differences and similarities are easier to differentiate.

The two above photos were taken in Ybor City eighty nine years apart. Notice the similarities in the two photographs, such as the houses and railroad tracks. Also, notice the differences, such as the columns on the houses, the missing houses on the right side, and the fewer number of railroad tracks.

Next, print copies of the historic photograph and visit the locations. When re-photographing a building, be sure to note the position of various features that are present in both the historic photograph and the actual building, this will help you determine the correct angle to re-photograph from. As circled in the two photographs on the right, notice the alignment of the following architectural elements:

• The position and spacing of the three columns on the side of the building,
• The point of the roof in the middle of the far left second floor window,
• The front right column under and to the right of the far right second floor window, and
• The location of the garage at the end of the driveway.

Below, I have listed the main problems I have encountered while trying to re-photograph some of the historic sites in Tampa.

• The historical building has been demolished,
• The address of the historical photograph is unknown,
• The street name or building number have changed,
• The vantage point in the historical photograph is obstructed,
• A ladder is required to match the vantage point of the historical photograph,
• To match the perspective of the historic photograph, a tilt-shift lens is required,
• The road has been widened and to match the historic vantage point I must stand in the middle of the road,
• Homeowners, neighbors, and police are suspicious of me wandering neighborhoods taking photographs of ordinary looking buildings.

Ideally, I would like for all historic buildings, in Tampa and elsewhere, to be restored and occupied. However, I know that will never happen. Therefore, I am hoping that by viewing the historic photographs along side with the modern re-photographs, people will realize the beauty and history that still exists in these historic buildings and will do their part to help preserve and protect them for future generations.

The photographs above show the Maas Brothers building. The black and white photograph, from 1931, shows the building in its heyday. The color photograph, from 2006, is of the building’s demolition.

In order to document as much of the City as possible, I would like for the Tampa Changing project to be a collaborative effort. Below, I have tried to explain my methodology for locating historic photographs, finding existing historic structures, and re-photographing the historic sites. If you have any questions, comments, or ideas about my methodology, or have re-photography you would like to submit, please feel free to contact me.

There are multiple sources for historic photographs of the Tampa Bay region, some of which I have listed below. If you are aware of any other sources, please contact me. Primarily, the historic photographs used in the Tampa Changing project were taken by the Burgert Brothers. These photographs are owned and have been preserved by The Hillsborough County Public Library. The Library has generously made their collection of Burgert Brother photographs available to the public. Other websites with historic photographs of the Tampa Bay area are:

• The Hillsborough County Public Library
• Florida Memory
• USF’s Digital Collection
• My Florida History
• LaMartin
• UF’s Digital Collection

Just be aware that the photographs in the Hillsborough County Public Library’s collection are available for free and may be used as long as credit is given to the Library. This is not necessarily true of the other sites.

Typically, I’ll browse one of the collections of historic photographs, and either pick out photographs of buildings that I know exist, or choose buildings that (at least used to be) in the vicinity of each other.

For many of the photographs, the Library has listed an address or a street name. To determine if building in the historic photograph still exists, I recommend going to Google’s Street View. If you are lucky, the historic road name has not been changed, the address of the property is the same, and the building in the historic photograph still exists! Unfortunately, this is not always the case…

If you choose historic photographs from the library’s collections, make a list of the photograph’s call number, beginning with the letters “PA” and bring them to the John F. Germany Library. The librarian will then give you 8×10 prints of the photographs. The prints are not allowed to leave the building, so you must bring your own tools to reproduce them at the library. I have found a camera with a tripod or scanner and laptop to give suitable results.

The two photographs above show a house in South Tampa, taken eighty-six years apart. Not much appears to have changed in the two photographs. When trying to compose a re-photograph from the same perspective as the historic photograph, pay attention to where elements, specifically those located at different depths, are aligned.