conservatory

I see bamboo (actually I just read the tag on the right ;)

oaktree_brian_1976 Ooops, the independent adjudicator from KPMG will allow bamboo. I tagged for it because I blindly mistook a thin roof strut as a (dead) bamboo support for the banana palm... But where's the live bamboo?

We've got string beans and onions, Cabashes and scallions, all kinds of fruit and say, we've got an old fashioned potato, a new fashioned tomato, and Yes, we have no bananas NLI you stole (sorry "REPURPOSED" [whatever that means]) a line from my late aunts party piece which she belted out each time she had a few sherries on her! It really got the family going and caused great amusement! I cannot see any obvious bamboo but the fine leaves high behind the banana may just be what you describe!

Swordscookie "Stole" is such an ugly word! I "repurposed" it... :)

Phormium from Seuss looks plausible, but not so convinced by his suggestion of Aspidistra... And Swordscookie don't think that they look like bamboo leaves when you check against the huge size:

The time when a camera shop was a camera shop......Really pleased that you are posting these dry plates as Im expermenting in the process myself and finding that the results are looking a good match www.flickr.com/photos/johnkeys/9683927927/in/photostream/ ...Thanks

I'd be interested to know the date of this photograph as my grandfather managed the fine art department until shortly before his death in 1952. He was a director of the company from about 1905 and I believe he ran these shops from about that time. The address was originally 7, 9 and 11, Grainger Street West, but later became 58, 60 and 62 Grainger Street. There's a later picture taken in 1935 at; www.flickr.com/photos/39821974@N06/4081040765 The company minute books of board meetings are in the Tyne & Wear Archives and make fascinating reading. Of Joseph Swan there is little mention as he was a sleeping partner.

This photograph isn't dated but we think it's from the early 1900s

That sounds about right. Electric trams were introduced in 1901, so that's the earliest date as the poles for the wiring are in the centre of the road. They were certainly keen to get a lot of stock displayed in the windows! In those days most houses had pictures hanging on every wall, from country mansions to working class terraces. Until the Great War this was a highly profitable department of the business. Things changed after 1914. Pictures were still popular until the Second World War, but the gallery and fine art department were in decline. This picture must have been taken when it was at its peak. At this time the company had created a separate department to market prints in colour or black and white of a painting "Despised and Rejected of Men!" by Sigismund Goetze, 1904. It travelled around Britain with a lecturer giving talks about the picture. I have a large black and white copy and the pamphlet that went with it. Prints were still being sold to churches in the USA in the 1960's! See; jloughnan.tripod.com/despised.htm It's interesting to note that the company had given up one shop unit by 1935, but the whole appearance had been greatly modernised, see; www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4081040765

Date on negative 6/3/21