Unidentified photographer
1852-1853
Commercial premises of McEwan & Houston, Ironmongers, 77 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne [Australia]

Daguerreotype, digitally enhanced
State Library of Victoria
Accession no: H2000.73
 
Dated from the 1853 Sands and Kenny Directory of Melbourne.
 
The image shows the exterior of the three storeyed building, which was subsequently demolished in 1868. In the shop windows can be seen various items for sale, and gold-mining equipment including picks and tin pans for washing the dirt are hung against the facade outside.
 
James McEwan & Co was established in 1852, and in 1853 the company was known as McEwan & Houston. In 1854 the name reverted to James McEwan & Co., under which name it traded until bought out by the Western Australian chain, Bunnings, in the mid-1990s.
 
LL/77122