firedrill

Based on the higher-res version of this image on the LOC website, these windows say something like "National Cloak & Suit." According to the NYT, the National Cloak and Suit Company occupied "the entire west side of the block on Seventh Avenue between Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Street" in New York City. A look at Google Maps' Street View confirms that it's this location, 250 Seventh Avenue, currently a Whole Foods store. There is also an October 10, 1912 story about city-wide fire drill exercises the previous day, one of which took place at the building, so this picture could have been taken on October 9, 1912, unless there other fire drills of this type taken in other years.

Thanks, epicharmus! We will add a note to the source data and reload the description.

Bain News Agency has placed the date on the bottom of the photo: 10/9/12. Here is another view of the fire drill, in the adjacent photo in Bain's photostream:

Same location as this photo, the National Cloak & Suit Company building. According to the NYT, the National Cloak and Suit Company occupied "the entire west side of the block on Seventh Avenue between Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Street" in New York City. A look at Google Maps' Street View confirms that it's this location, 250 Seventh Avenue, currently a Whole Foods store. There is also an October 10, 1912 story about city-wide fire drill exercises the previous day, one of which took place at the building, so this picture could have been taken on October 9, 1912, unless there other fire drills of this type taken in other years.

Thanks, epicharmus! We will add a note to the source data and reload the description.

The photo adjacent to this one in the Bain News Agency's photostream is indeed dated 10/9/[19]12: