138. Post Office and Custom House, Battery Street, San Francisco.
San Francisco, CA: Lawrence & Houseworth, [1866]. Photograph. Carte de visite. Albumen photograph [6 x 9.5cm] mounted on a white card [6.5 x 10cm] with an "Album & Stereoscopic Views of California Scenery" backstamp. Title label ("138. Post Office and Custom House, Battery Street, San Francisco.") adhered to the revierse. Gold printed ruled edge borders also on the reverse. A finely composed photograph, printed clearly, with sharp contrasts. In lovely condition with only a hint of toning around the edges of the card. Rare. Near Fine. Item #70879
A great view of the old San Francisco Post Office and Custom House on Battery Street which was built in the 1850s and then demolished in 1905 in order to be rebuilt (at the same location).
Full backstamp reads: "Album & Stereoscopic | Views of | California Scenery | Photographed and | Published by | Lawrence & Houseworth, | Opticians, | 317 & 319 Montgomery st. | San Francisco. | Catalogues furnished | free of postage. | Copyright Secured."
"In 1859 photographic publishers Lawrence & Houseworth began selling stereographs from their San Francisco optical shop. They worked with local photographers to acquire a diverse collection of images documenting California's major settlements, boom towns, placer and hydraulic mining operations, shipping and transportation routes, and such points of scenic interest throughout northern California and western Nevada as the Yosemite Valley and Calaveras Redwoods. Their views also included an extensive pictorial survey of mid-nineteenth-century San Francisco" (Library of Congress).
"George S. Lawrence (dates unknown) and Thomas Houseworth (1828-1915) sailed from New York City to San Francisco on April 4, 1849. They were headed for the California gold mines. For the next two years they worked as miners in Calaveras and Trinity Counties. In 1851 Lawrence and Houseworth left the mines and settled in San Francisco where Lawrence sold jewelry. A short time later, he opened an optical shop opposite Portsmouth Plaza" (Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/collections/lawrence-and-houseworth/about-this-collection/).
Price: $450.00