Pittsburgh Plate Glass, northeast corner of Madison and Ashley Streets
Pittsburgh Plate Glass building on Madison and Ashley. 1937 Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Northeast corner of Madison and Ashley streets 2021.© Chip Weiner
The Lucas Brothers & Company started in the late 1800s with a location in a warehouse on Water Street on the Hillsborough River as grocery merchants, using their wharf there to import supplies. They built this 22,000 sq. ft. building in 1907 across Ashley St from the river and the Atlantic Coast Line rail yard and continued business into the Great Depression. The company was dissolved in 1932. In 1923, the Pittsburgh Plate and Glass Co., a national firm, bought Tampa Paint and Glass Co. when their location was at 318-320 Cass Street to expand into the local market. In 1936, they purchased the former Lucas building from the Federal Reserve Bank for an undisclosed amount, remodeling it and painting over the original red brick. Later that same year, a 98-day strike by the Federation of Flat Glass caused workers to idle at the company. The strike ended in early 1937.
The glass company was here until the late 1940s. Anderson Dental Supply moved here in 1947 and remained through the mid-1960s. With the construction of the First Financial Tower across Madison St., the neighborhood's complexion began to change in the late 1960s and early 1970s. By 1976, the building got a $750,000 facelift and was converted into a multi-tenant office building, adding a first-floor restaurant.
© Chip Weiner. All rights reserved
From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol. 1