metropole

The New Arrivals were: Coypu rats, each of which is as big as a full-grown cat. A very rare Malayan monitor and "Lincoln Murphy" a new baby kangeroo. There are pictures of all three too.

Sharon Corbet Well done Sharon, what a name for the Kangaroo!! Don't like the sound of Coypu Rats!

Sharon Corbet I would say that Mason had great fun showing that photo to friends and family with its well centered if confusing headline!

Some interesting background to Thomas Holmes Mason (1877-1958) -

"... Thomas Mason's son, Thomas Holmes, was born in 1877. The grandfather of today's company chairman, Thomas H was a remarkable man. He worked alongside his father in the company until the latter's death in 1913, at which point the company was called Thomas H Mason. Stan explains how the company, under his grandfather's direction, made a "dramatic move with the technology of the time". "In the late 1890s he introduced photography to the business in the form of picture postcards. We went on to become the biggest producer of picture postcards in Ireland, right up until the 1940s, when the price of silver, a major component in developing solutions, rocketed because of the war." He takes a book from a glass case - Thomas H Mason's book The Islands of Ireland, published 1936. "My grandfather was interested in archaeology, ornithology, historical sites on the islands off Ireland, interests which brought him all over the country with his full-plate camera. He built up a huge and very fine collection of pictures which, unfortunately, were destroyed by fire in 1963. There's a vast collection of his picture postcards in the Civic Museum, however." ... ... "

From - www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/saga-of-a... (2003)

From the Irish Press on Tuesday, 4 July 1933...

TURF PLAN'S VALUE TO ARCHAEOLOGISTS ROTARY LECTURE That the Government's turf scheme should result in the discovery of articles of archaeological value, was claimed by Mr. T. H. Mason, M.R.I.A., in the course of a lecture on "Archaeology in Ireland", at the weekly meeting of the Dublin Rotary Club, in the Metropole Restaurant, yesterday [Monday, 3 July 1933]. Those engaged in the work of drainage of the bogs and of cutting turf should at once report to the National Museum, Dublin, or to the local Gardaí Síochána any structure or objects, however small, of artificial nature, which they discovered in the course of their work... He believed that the number of bronze age finds during the next ten years would far exceed the discoveries of the past 30 or 40 years...

And given current news, it's not just bogs hiding bronze age finds.

A similar view in the 1880s before the construction. From State Library of NSW: acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemLarge.aspx?itemID=413130

Andy Brill I gave up trying to match it with Googlemaps, I presume we are looking west with Circular Quay off screen on our right? What is the church in the background?

Highranger Yes Circular Quay is to right, and the church is St Phillips on Church Hill.

Andy Brill Highranger Yes, StreetView is no good here - there is an enormous tower in the way. From Phillip Street looking west (see notes). I think they were building the Metropole Hotel which opened in January 1890 - The Grosvenor Hotel (at the top, see note) opened in November 1888 - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/28339993 - and shows up on the skyline of many old photos. Demolished in 1928 to make way for the Harbour Bridge, but possibly rebuilt as flats in Randwick according to this - trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/16478518 - anyone know for sure? Which dates this photo to 1888, as it would have taken a while to complete the Metropole Hotel. Or not?

beachcomber australia Top half of sign is legible on our larger version: "This site will shortly be occupied by a large coffee palace capable of accommodating 300 visitors. ?? Coffee Tavern..." AB

Trying to remember what was built there . . . ?

beachcomber australia It was the site of the first Government House. "After Government House was demolished, the site was used variously as a carter's yard, a fruit shop, a confectioner and a tobacco shop, government offices, accommodation for nurses during the Second World War and a car park. At one stage it was to become the site of the city's town hall and later was mooted as the location for a multi-storey office block." www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/first-gov... Now the site of the Historic Houses Trust's Museum of Sydney www.hht.net.au/museums/mos

pellethepoet Thanks, I meant immediately after 1899. I don't recall a photo of this corner pre or post that date. One will turn up when least expected . . .

great shot. those telegraph poles were ugly. looked like a steel tree

Nice to see that, apart from the Metropole, all readily visible buildings in shot still stand, although the trees outside the Public Instruction Office went in 1911.