That's a street view of the Iroquois Hotel in Buffalo, NY around 1900. Pretty awesome picture, especially when you view it large and pick out the smaller surrounding details.
Looking at the lower right hand corner of the photo you find another building that housed a shoe store on the first floor, a Dentist office on the second floor, and a Photographer's Studio on the floor above that. "Tonalgia" was a pharmaceutical concoction popular back in the day. It contained Cocaine, and was one of several similar mixtures used to make dental work less of a terrifyingly painful affair.
Bliss Brothers photography studio saw lots of business in those days, I'm sure. Cabinet Card photos were all the rage at the turn of the century. It was common practice in those days for people to go into the photographer's studio and have their pictures made - often with props, pets, and their best clothing on display. A brief search of the internet produced this example:
Finding a picture of someone actually taken inside that studio in the photograph is one of the many things I love about the internet. It ain't all pron, silly videos, and politics out there :)
6 comments:
Now that is amazing.
that;s funny though, the cocaine thing. I imagine it would make it easier. lol...
I dislike the non-smile photography. To me that = uber creepy.
Want to talk about creepy?... have you ever seen any of the 19th century post mortem photos? Especially the ones where they prop the deceased up by still living members of the family for a final picture?
Some of those really ook me out.
LOL.. I HAVE SEEN THOSE!!! But it usually doesn't 'ook' me out until it's like a child.... *shudders*... I can thank the horror industry for that.
Funny story - the Iroquois was actually bought and then closed by E.M. Statler so that he could convince the well-to-do in Buffalo to use his new hotel in Niagara Square.
I've actually been to events in the banquet rooms that were still open in the '80's (most of the building was converted to office space).
misanthropic777 - That's pretty cool! I had wondered if the main subject of the photo was still around and being repurposed.
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