Antique Albumen Print of The Palmer House, Chicago 'c.1890'

€ 600

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1890
Sheet size: 24 × 31 cm (9.4 × 12.2 in)
Condition: Fair
Reference: BG-12983-2

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Condition

Age-related toning. Print mounted to board. Please review the images for further condition details.

About this sheet

The Palmer House in Chicago, an original albumen photograph made circa 1890 and mounted on a blue-green card. The image shows the hotel from the street corner, a huge, ornate building of many stories with a rounded corner tower, a mansard roof with dormers and pediments, and ranks of tall windows. Shop awnings stretch along the ground floor, and horse-drawn carriages and a streetcar line cross the foreground, with a few pedestrians on the sidewalk.

This was the second Palmer House, built in 1871 after the first hotel was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire, and it was replaced in 1923 to 1925 by the third Palmer House, which is still in use as a hotel. The photograph preserves the building at the height of its fame, when it was among the most celebrated hotels in the American Midwest.

The albumen print has a warm brown tone and a wide mount, and the card bears a small pencil mark in the upper left corner.