North and east (Including the cathedrals of Reims, Laon, Troyes, and Strasbourg) - Henri Le Secq
 
South and east (Palace of Fontainebleau, Lyon and the Roman in Orange, Nîmes and Arles) - Édouard Baldus
 
Southwest (The Loire chateaux of Blois, Chambord, Amboise, and Chenonceaux and the towns of Carcassonne, Albi, Perpignan, Le Puy and Clermont-Ferrand - Le Gray & Mestral consisting of Gustave Le Gray and Auguste Mestral
 
West (Brittany and Normandy including the towns of Caen, Bayeux, and Rouen) - Henri Le Secq

"It is likely that Annan regarded the commission from the Trustees of the Improvements Act as just another he received when his success as a commercial photographer of Glasgow was increasingly recognized. However inadvertently, he did give us the first thorough photographic representation available of the dwelling places and the inhabitants of an urban slum." (Mozley 1977:XII).

"The City Improvement Trustees acquired, by act of parliament, in 1866, the right to alter and reconstruct several of the more densely built areas of the city, and these operations, it was foreseen, would remove many old and interesting landmarks. Before entering upon their work, the Trustees arranged with the late Mr. Thomas Annan to take photographs of a series of views of the closes and streets more immediately affected, and a few copies were presented to members of the Corporation and others." (Young 1900:22)

"The Scottish ‘close‘ and ‘wynd‘ - the terms are almost interchangeable - were familiar landmarks in any city with a densely packed medieval street pattern: narrow passageways leading either from one street to another, or into the middle of a building block. It is the consistently narrow form of the alley that gives formal coherency to most of Annan‘s imagery- he simply stood the camera in the middle of the passageway and shot down it." (2004:49)

"He added clouds, which brighten the skies over Glasgow‘s slums, and he whitened the wash on the line. He did this for pictorial effect, for nice balance. While his taste for the picturesque, for a tradition inherited from painting, and quite in accord with salon practice of the day, may distort to some extent the immediacy of the mise-en-scene, we must appreciate the fact that he did not tidy up the rest of the picture, as his son, James Craig Annan, did when he made the photogravure plates for the 1900 edition. The photogravures are lighter in tone, and consequently in mood, in the sense of the place, than Annan‘s carbon prints. Moving figures, those ghosts who would not stand still for the photographer, are completely excised in the photogravure edition..." (Mozley 1977:XI- XII).

Thomas  Annan    Title | Lightbox | Checklist

One of the most beautiful bits of Notre Dame is the Porte Rouge on the north side, which may be translated the "Door of Blood," and which was built by John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, in expiation of the murder of the duke of Orleans in 1407. The valor and other princely qualities of Jean sans Peur and the odious character of his victim, who was the very curse of France, bias us in favor of the former notwithstanding the treachery of his deed. Their enmity had been bitter and of long standing, but they met for formal and public reconciliation, attended mass and received the sacrament together, and ended the day by a banquet. On his way home the duke of Orleans was surrounded and assassinated: the story goes that one wrapped in a mantle and scarlet hood, so as to conceal his face and figure, suddenly came out of a house and struck the final, fatal blow, and that this was the duke of Burgundy. The duke of Orleans had offered him an unpardonable insult by placing the likeness of the duchess of Burgundy among the portraits of his mistresses. It is further said that the duke of Burgundy had received intelligence of a plot to assassinate himself, and merely got the start of his foe. His atonement was splendid, according to the notions of those times. About ten years afterward he paid the natural penalty of his great crime, and was slain in his turn on the bridge of Montereau during a parley with the dauphin, afterward Charles VII. His tomb is at Dijon, the place of his birth, beside that of his father, Philippe le Hardi; his duchess Margaret lies by his side coroneted and in daisy-sprinkled robe; around the base of the monument troops of little monks mourn the death of their prince with every demonstration of grief. But under the rich Gothic canopy which forms the porch of the Porte Rouge the duke and duchess of Burgundy kneel in perpetual repentance amid a crowd of divine and sacred figures.

Charles  Marville    Title | Lightbox | Checklist

The opening of the New Opera House at Paris took place on Tuesday last. The Government had engaged the entire house for the opening night, which was, therefore, a state festivity, to which the diplomatic corps, the deputies, &c, were invited. The regular performances were to commence last evening with Hamlet.
 
The Academy, Issue 7, Jan 9, 1875, p.51

The historian of the new temple of song rounds off his record with an array of not uninteresting figures, and with a few of these I too shall close. The gas-pipes, if connected, would form a pipe twenty-five kilometres in length; fourteen furnaces and four hundred and fifty grates heat the house; a battery of seventy cups generates electricity for the scenic effects; nine reservoirs and two tanks hold a hundred thousand litres of water, and distribute their contents through six thousand nine hundred and eighteen metres of piping, and there are twenty-five hundred and thirty-one doors, and seven thousand five hundred and ninety-three keys, which latter M. Gamier delivered formally, but figuratively, I imagine, to M. Halanzier when the manager took possession of the premises.
 
Frederick A. Schwab, "A Temple of Song", Scribners Monthly, May, 1875, Volume X, No.1, p.20

Louis-Emile  Durandelle Paris Opera    Title | Lightbox | Checklist

THE VICTORIA BRIDGE.
 
This gigantic undertaking forms one of the most interesting and wonderful features connected with the city, at Point St. Charles.
 
It is being built for the purpose of enabling the Grand Trunk Railway to form a continuous railroad communication with the railroads of the United States, instead of passengers being obliged to cross the river in steamers, as at present
 
The width of the river where the bridge is being built is very nearly 2 miles.
 
The current of the river is very rapid—with a depth of from 4 to 10 feet, excepting in the main channel, where it is from 30 to 35 feet deep.
 
In the winter, the ice is formed into a great thickness, and frequently immense piles accumulate—as high as 80 to 40 feet Thus piled up in huge boulders, the water rushes through them at a fearful rate, driving the blocks of ice along, and crushing all before them.
 
The bridge will consist of 24 strong piers, standing 242 feet apart, excepting the entire span, which is 339 feet wide. They are all perpendicular on three sides, and slope down to the water-edge against the current, so as to withstand the force and action of the floating masses of ice, on its breaking up. Each pier is estimated to withstand the force of 70,000 tons of ice at one time.
 
Resting on these piers, and running from abutment to abutment, is the bridge, which consists of a hollow iron tube, 22 feet high, and 16 feet wide.
 
The entire span is to be 60 feet above the average level of the water, thence sinking towards each end 1 foot in 130, thus making the height of the abutments about 37 feet
 
The estimated cost is about £1,250,000 stg. The weight of the iron in the tubes will be 8,000 tons, and the contents of the masonry will be about 3,000,000 cubic feet The whole will be completed in the autumn of 1859 or spring of 1860. As is well known, the engineer of this greatest bridge in the world is Mr. Robert Stephenson of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
 
The whole of the views of Montreal, as given in the accompanying pages, were taken for this work by Mr. Notman, photographer, Montreal, and the clear and sharp photographs supplied by him for the purpose of engraving from, affords the best evidence of his being a first-class artist.

Documentary 19thc Notman Victoria Bridge    Title | Lightbox | Checklist

Documentary 19thc Delamotte Crystal Palace    Title | Lightbox | Checklist

Society for Photographing Relics of Old London is about to issue a fresh selection of views in permanent photography, carrying on the series of publications which illustrate many of the fast-vanishing historical and picturesque buildings of the metropolis. Canonbury Tower, Barnard's Inn, old houses in Aldersgate-street, Christ's Hospital, the churchyard of St. Laurence Pountney, and a house in Great Queen-street supply subjects for this issue.

OLD LONDON RELICS.
 
Sir,—Some of the newspapers have been calling attention to the Society for Photographing Relics of Old London, deploring the necessity of its collapse, and attributing the same to a want of interest on the part of the general public, and of its necessary support in the form of subscriptions. This is scarcely a correct statement of the actual facts, although one which might very justly be deduced from the notice of this last issue being the final one of the "Society." In one sense, a society it never has been ; for its management, the choice of subjects, the excellent letterpress accompanying each issue, and the various details and complicated work and trouble attached to it, have been the labour of love of one man only, Mr. Alfred Marks, the originator, director, and manager from the first, the funds derived from subscriptions having been expended entirely upon its publications; and the fortunate subscribers have received their photographs, not mere sun pictures, as evanescent and as fleeting as the very sunshine itself, but permanent memorials of an "Old London" fast disappearing from our view in our own times, here preserved to those that come after by the taste, energy, and forethought of one man, to whom others like myself will be for ever indebted. These labours have ended from lack not of support, but of material; 120 pictures of Old London practically exhaust the subject. But there is a moral attached. first issue of these photographs was in 1875, and in the decade just elapsed nearly one-half have disappeared or are threatened with probable demolition. In the next decade to come how many of the remainder will be left? subject is "too dismal to contemplate "—a wealthy city, not altogether without taste, and with such lovely memorials of the past, thus deliberately to denude itself of every atom, of every spark of its antiquity.
 
Devereux Chambers, Temple. GEORGE H. BIRCH, F.S.A.

Documentary 19thc Jacob Riis    Title | Lightbox | Checklist

THE SOCIETY OF AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS OF NEW YORK.
Lantern Exhibition.
 
The regular monthly lantern exhibition was given at the rooms of the Society. 123 West 30th Street, on Wednesday evening, January 25th, and was very largely attended.
 
The subject was, "The Other Half How it lives and dies in New York," and was explained in an informal way by Mr. Jacob A. Riis, who for ten years past has been the police reporter of the New York Press. The object of the exhibition was to picture to the audience the exact condition of the lowest phases of life as it at present exists in New York City. Many of the pictures were obtained by the aid of flash magnesium light.
 
The exhibition opened with a view of a well-known alley in Cherry Street, around which, it was said, 1,000 persons lived.
 
Other views included the "Bandit's Alley," near Mott and Hester Streets, where murderers and thieves congregate and enjoy life in what is known as the "stale beer dives."
 
"Bottle Alley," near Baxter Street, contained many children. A capital picture was that of an old tramp and thief in front of his broken-down shanty. About this Mr. Riis said he obtained the consent of the tramp to stand for ten cents, but he put his pipe in his pocket. So the tramp struck for higher pay, and on giving him five cents more he posed with his pipe as Mr. Riis desired. Another excellent picture illustrated how young boys first practice picking pockets.
 
The object of attack was a drunken man lying down in a stupor. The two boys were on each side overhauling the pockets with decided energy. They term the pickings their winnings, never call it stealing. At a place called "Hell's Kitchen," near Eleventh Avenue on Thirty-ninth Street, they experienced considerable difficulty, were attacked by some of the women with brickbats, which broke one of the plate-holders. The Italian rag-pickers' alley in South Fifth Avenue was shown; the women at work were suddenly dispersed by one word from the Italian proprietor before their pictures could be caught. An Italian tea-kettle was shown, somewhat large in size, stuffed with dirty linen. In the morning the kettle was used as boiler for boiling the clothes; at night it was employed for making tea.
 
A typical group of New York toughs called "The Growlers," was exhibited, hidden away under one of the dump docks on the East Side. They were factory hands, and got young boys to go after beer which they would drink in these places. A single picture of a young lad eight years old carrying a large pail of beer was quite effective. Other views of the back of tenement-houses showing the multiplicity of clothes-lines; of Baxter Street, crowded with humanity; of Mott and Pell Streets, showing Chinese life; the interior of a Chinese opium den, with the Chinamen laying off in their bunks under its influence: of the Chinese altar in the Joss-house, some of the latter being taken by aid of flash-light, were extremely interesting. Also pictures of the interior of the cheap lodging-houses, the Tombs, the Five Points House of Industry, the Catholic Protectory, with children playing around and Sister Irene in the foreground, who is said to have saved 13,003 children; also the exterior and interior of an uptown branch of the Boys' Lodging House of the Children's Aid Society, established through the beneficence of the late Mrs. Robert L. Stuart. All of the above were exceedingly interesting as showing the beneficent power which these institutions exert in this city.
 
Portraits of children side by side, of how they looked when taken from their hovels, and cruel and wretched parents, and after they were cleaned and cared for by Mr. E. Gerry's "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children," illustrated more forcibly than any word picture the necessity and usefulness of that institution.
 
Several interesting portraits of noted thiefs and forgers, both male and female, taken from the Rogues' Gallery, were shown; Ex-Governor Moses, of South Carolina, had the handsomest looking face.
 
A fine picture, showing four or five detectives holding a refractory thief while he was having his photograph taken, was quite comical.
 
A good interior of a police office, showing the sergeant recording the facts, with the policeman standing near the rail, holding a foundling wrapped up in a black shawl, and messenger and others looking on, was quite effective and well lighted.
 
Several views of the Arabs in their hovels in Washington Street were exhibited. The women lay around on the floor without any bedding, and were completely embedded and begrimed with dirt. These were secured by aid of the flash-light. There were also two or three excellent interiors of the School for Blind Children.
 
The exhibition terminated with several excellent views of the New York Morgue, interior of Bellevue Hospital, exterior and interior of the Penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, of the Lunatic Asylum on Ward's Island, and of the burying ground on Hart's Island.
 
Mr. Riis related many interesting episodes and facts. It was hard to realize the enormity of the degradation and poverty constantly present in the great city. He remarked that four thousand children were barred out from the public schools, because there was not room enough to accommodate all who could attend.
 
At 10 o'clock the entertainment terminated.

Documentary 19thc Jacob Riis    Title | Lightbox | Checklist

Berenice  Abbott NY    Title | Lightbox | Checklist

The plan I propose is to enlist a qualified group of architects and draftsmen to study, measure and draw up the plans, elevations and details of the important antique buildings of the United States. Our architectural heritage of buildings from the last four centuries diminishes daily at an alarming rate. The ravages of fire and the natural elements together with the demolition and alterations caused by real estate 'improvements' form an inexorable tide of destruction destined to wipe out the great majority of the buildings which knew the beginning and first flourish of the nation. The comparatively few structures which can be saved by extraordinary effort and presented as exhibition houses and museums or altered and used for residences or minor commercial uses comprise only a minor percentage of the interesting and important architectural specimens which remain from the old days. It is the responsibility of the American people that if the great number of our antique buildings must disappear through economic causes, they should not pass into unrecorded oblivion.
 
The list of building types . . . should include public buildings, churches, residences, bridges, forts, barns, mills, shops, rural outbuildings, and any other kind of structure of which there are good specimens extant . . . . Other structures which would not engage the especial interest of an architectural connoisseur are the great number of plain structures which by fate or accident are identified with historic events.
 
Peterson, Charles E., to the Director, United States Department of the Interior, Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations, Washington, D.C., November 13, 1933. Reprinted in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 16, no. 3 (October 1957): 29-31.

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