rooms

Aha! Almost exactly the same as Tom Robert's 'Mosman's Bay' 1894 (New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale) [http://www.flickr.com/photos/38205659@N03/8643198351/]

beachcomber australia Lovely painting, obviously a very picturesque spot.

Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons Yes, Mosman Bay at the time was a magnet for artists and photographers. A PhM Phillips Collection photo from 90 degrees to the left got me started on this Flickr armchair archaeology - The current (Jan 1914) issue of 'Afloat' has a great history of Mosman Bay by Graeme Andrews. Page 26 ff. Online - magazine.afloat.com.au/?iid=85607#folio=26

beachcomber australia So that's where it all began! Thanks for the link to Mr Andrew's article. Did you see the a recent feature in The Conversation on the collection he donated to the City of Sydney archives?

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

This is wonderful!