Old Ybor City Bank rLatin-American Bank of Ybor City) (1702-1706 E. 7th)
A 2-story brick building erected in 1910 to house the Ybor City Bank, this structure served as a bank until 1955. It is relatively unaltered. The firstfloor storefront is covered with concrete in a usticated pattern. A wide awning features egg-and-dart molding and bracketing. The two east storefronts feature brick pilasters.
Broadway National Bank 1953
Wolfson Building (1621-1625 E. 7th)
The Wolfson family built this 1-story brick structure in 1922. It retains its metal awning rings and a water table. Its decorative brickwork bears the family name.
Note: The Wolfson family owned:
S.H. Kress and Co. (1620-1626 E. 7th)
Built in 1913, as a Kress Co. store, this 3-story blond brick building reflects the popular commercial style of its period of construction. Brick pilasters and string courses decorate the
facade. Egg-and-dart molding appears at the cornice. A stepped parapet bear the “Kress” name. The Kress Co. store expanded into the first floor of an adjacent structure built sometime between 1903 and 1915.
Other Contributers: Burgert Brothers -- Photographer
S. H. Kress & Co. was the trading name of a chain of “five and dime” retail department stores in the United States, which operated from 1896 to 1981.
Samuel H. Kress opened his first “stationery and notions” store in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania in 1887. The chain of S. H. Kress & Co. 5-10-25 Cent Stores was established in 1896.[1] Throughout the first half of the twentieth century Kress stores were a familiar sight on “Main Street” in hundreds of cities and towns.
In 1964 Genesco, Inc. acquired ownership of Kress. The company abandoned its center-city stores and moved to the shopping malls. Genesco began liquidating Kress and closing down the Kress stores in 1980.
Tiendas Kress, the subsidiary chain in Puerto Rico, survived the parent company and is still in business there. The Kress Foundation, a philanthropic organization promoting art, was es
The company’s exclusion of African Americans from its lunch counters made Kress a target for civil rights protests during the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins, along with Woolworth’s, Rexall and other national chains.[5] In Nashville, Tennessee, Kress repeatedly refused to serve the protesters but eventually agreed to integrate the downtown store in exchange for ending a consumer boycott. The Greensboro, North Carolina Kress was included in the first civil rights demonstrations in the South.[6] The Kress building in Baton Rouge was the site of that city’s first civil rights sit-in, which event helped save it from the wrecking ball 45 years later.[7]
In the 1920s and 1930s Kress sold a house label of phonograph records under the “Romeo Records” trademark.
Stein Building (1617-1619 E. 7th)
The Stein Building is a 2-story brick building dating to 1924. Its first-floor storefronts have been altered, but the upper levels retain many original features. Its metal awning rings and decorative brickwork of contrasting colors survive. The store’s name and the date appear in a panel within the pediment.
Originally David Stein Furniture Building.
Formerly:
(47) – Manuel Aronovitz Store
“In the month of June 1914, I arrived in this country and at that time there were two stations, one in Ybor City and one in Union Station. And by mistake my brother waited for me in Ybor City…I had to walk eighteen blocks to get to my brother.”
- Manuel Aronovitz, early Jewish immigrant
Some of Ybor City’s earliest and most adventurous immigrant residents were Jews. Ybor City’s Jews came primarily from Germany, Russia and Rumania, and many were fleeing pogroms and anti-Semitism in their native lands. Jews were quick to respond to labor agents, posters, and handbills seeking workers for the cigar factories of Key West and Tampa. Some Jews found their way to Ybor City by word of mouth alone, like Louis Schein whose family had fled Austria because of pogroms. Escaping lung ailments caused by New York’s climate, Schein came in a roundabout way to Ybor City in the 1890s. Told “there are Jews in Ybor City,” Schein made his way there and encountered Isidore Kaunitz (proprietor of the dry goods store El Sombrero Blanco.) Kaunitz, who had known Schein’s family in Austria, helped the newer immigrant enter the small but industrious group of Jews who called Ybor City home. Schein’s story exemplifies not only the “chain migration” that characterized much European immigration, but also the resourcefulness and verve of Ybor City’s immigrant Jews.
http://www.cigarcitymagazine.com/history/item/immigration-and-ybor-city-1886-1921
E.H. Steinberg Building (1611-1615 E. 7th)
This 2-story brick building, located in a row of similar masonry structures, retains many original features, including corbelling and decorative brickwork. Its storefronts and windows have been altered. Its wooden canopy remains in place.
Building was previously: (17) – Max Argintar Pawn & Clothing / Martin’s Uniforms
Inside the store in 1908
B.F. Marcos Building (1610-1612 E. 7th Avenue)
Probably the most pristine commercial-residential edifice in Ybor City is the B. F. Marcos Building, next to the El Centro Espanol mall. Baldomero F. Marcos had this 2-story red brick building erected in 1908. He and his family lived on the top floor, and two shop spaces on the lower floor, into which the space was divided soon after construction, were rented to commercial tenants.
The building’s most notable exterior feature is its well-preserved second-floor balcony, which has rather elaborate and distinctive cast-iron railings and brackets formed with a variety of decorative ovals, circles, and scrolls. The balcony rests on 3″ pipe columns and is covered with a galvanized metal shed roof. The building’s beauty is further enhanced by its brickwork, which includes a plain entablature at the base of the first story; radiating voussoirs over the arched surrounds of the double-hung second-floor windows; a gabled roof parapet with decorative corbelling that bears a pediment; and projecting piers with flat caps that rise the building’s full
height at its outside corners and flank the parapet.
The building was previously: (26) – Rainbow Mens Wear (Abe & Sam Verkauf)
Information about the original shop owner:
Sam VERKAUF, Sam age 95, died Wednesday, May 18, 2011. Born in St. Petersburg, and a lifelong resident of Tampa, Mr. Verkauf was owner of “The Rainbow” and “Brownies”, family owned men’s clothing stores for 80 years. He was a lifelong member of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, a congregation of which his family were among the founders, where he served as past president, men’s club president and presently was designated as Honorary Past President in perpetuity. A community minded family man, he was the recipient of civic and cultural awards too numerous to list here. Survivors include his beloved wife of 72 years, Doris; son and daughter-in-law, Dr. Byron & Nancy Verkauf; daughter, Ms. Sherry Friedlander; grandchildren, Dana Friedlander and husband, Evan Batoff, Brad Verkauf, and Erin Barnes; her husband Greg and four great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held today (Friday), 4 pm at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, 2713 Bayshore Boulevard, Tampa. Rabbi Marc Sack and Cantor Moshe Friedler will officiate. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Congregation Rodeph Sholom or the charity of ones choice.
Building used to be:
(Recently – Club Tantra)
(41) – Haber’s Ladies Wear (Bob Rippa’s Grandfather)
The Amiptheatre
Check out the photos from the Zombie Art Event that we attended in Ybor city on July 9th.
“Not for the squeamish or faint of heart, on Saturday, July 9th, dig the blood and gore galore, if you like horror and want to party with the UnDead. Ybor gallery Capricorn Studios promotes the darker side of art with Art is UnDead, their show of original artworks and photography, and a zombie beauty pageant/fashion and fetish show. Representatives from the National Zombie Awareness Committee will be there to help us ‘learn more about zombie preparedness, to explore that which makes your heart race and your hair stand on end.”
This week’s review is of the Stone Soup Company (1517 Seventh Ave.; 813-247-7687) in Ybor City. Neat place and chef/owner Ilya Ben Goldberg is clearly thinking big picture. Here is a link to the review, and here is a link to the restaurant’s site.
Article source: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/dining/content/review-stone-soup-co-ybor