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Portrait: Unknown Distinguished Gentleman
Photographer: Samuel Root (1811-1870)
1808. Marcus Aurelius Root is born
1820. Samuel Root is born
1835. Marcus opens penmanship studio in. Philadelphia
1839. Marcus studied under Robert Cornelius
1842. Marcus wrote Philosophical Theory and Practice of Penmanship
1846. Opens studio New York,
Josiah Thompson added
1850. Jenny Lind
1851. Exhibited the “American Institute, Castle Garden” in New York
1852 - 1853 Root and Company
1853 - 1857 G. C. Cook added
1855. Added B-I-L Robert Furman
1856. Samuel married Harriet Furman and. moved to Dubuque, Iowa
1856. Marcus sells studio in Philadelphia
1859. Sold to Thomas Faris
1864. The camera and the pencil, or, The heliographic art : its theory and practice ... together with its history in the United States and in Europe
1874. Elected Vice-President of The. National Photographic Association in Chicago.
1876. Centennial Exhibition
1888 Marcus Root dies
1889. Samuel Root dies
Samuel Root (American, c. 1820-1889)
Marcus Aurelius Root (American, 1808-1888)
Samuel Root, was born circa 1820. Marcus spent his childhood in Ohio and briefly attended Ohio University before contracting pleurisy forced him to drop out. After working briefly as a portrait artist, Marcus began teaching penmanship at the encouragement of painter Thomas Sully, and opened his own school in Philadelphia in 1835. During this period, he wrote several books on penmanship, including Philosophical Theory and Practice of Penmanship (1842).
Marcus Root‘s interest in daguerreian art began when Louis Daguerre’s process was introduced in Philadelphia in 1839. He studied under famed daguerreian Robert Cornelius. For him, daguerreotype was more than just a new art form; it was an expression of nationalist ideals. After opening a series of galleries in various locations, he returned to Philadelphia, where he was joined by his younger brother Samuel, to whom he taught the daguerreian art. Together, the siblings opened a gallery at 363 Broadway in New York City in 1849, which Samuel managed. Marcus eventually sold his interest in the gallery to Josiah W. Thompson so that he could concentrate on the Philadelphia gallery.
By the 1850s, Marcus Root had become one of America’s most respected daguerreians, and Samuel Root’s artistry was also receiving national attention. He completed the first daguerreotype of Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind and such prominent political officials as Henry Clay and George M. Dallas. When major daguerreotype dealer Edward Anthony held the first national photographic contest, Samuel Root received the second prize, a pair of goblets.
After selling the Philadelphia gallery in 1856, Marcus Root heavily invested in the Mount Vernon Hotel in Cape May, New Jersey. However, shortly thereafter, the uninsured structure was destroyed in a fire. His misfortunes continued when he was seriously injured in a train accident while preparing for a New York City gallery opening. His one leg was crushed, and despite undergoing a lengthy and arduous recovery, Marcus Root remained crippled for the rest of his life. Samuel Root was also enduring his share of hardship. His first wife died, leaving him with a young son. He married Harriet Furman in 1856, and the couple settled in Dubuque, Iowa, where Samuel opened a gallery at 166 Main Street. He became a respected member of the community, and published several photographic texts on Dubuque, including Views of Dubuque and Stereoscopic Views of Dubuque and Surrounding Scenery.
During his long recovery, Marcus Root worked on an exhaustive history of American photography, which was later published as The Camera and the Pencil; Or the Heliographic Art. He was well enough to exhibit his daguerreotype portraits of famous people at the 1876 Centennial Celebration, but a serious fall from a streetcar in 1885 ended his active life, which was spent in relative seclusion until his death on April 12, 1888 at the age of 79. Samuel Root was not one to let adversity get him down, and after a hailstorm destroyed his gallery’s skylight, he photographed and sold the four-inch hailstones. He sold his Dubuque gallery on May 27, 1887, and while on a visit to his sister-in-law in New York, Samuel Root died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage on March 11, 1889. The Root brothers were two of America’s earliest and most commercially successful photographic pioneers.
Anonymous text. “Marcus and Samuel Root,” on the Historic Camera website 07/11/2013 [Online] Cited 15/03/2022
In 1850, the Root brothers. Jenny Lind /a Swedish soprano, known as one of the most famous at that time.
From 1851 to 1853, Marcus and Samuel Root were registered as daguerreian photographers on 363 Broadway, New York City. They were also registered in 1851 till 1852 as well as in 1852 till 1853. In 1851 the Root brothers exhibited the “American Institute, Castle Garden” in New York.
They exhibited 8 double plates of daguerreotypes, 14 full plates, 12 two-thirds plates, 14 half plates and 2 quarter plates. Also 9 half plates taken with the “Crayon process” were exhibited. On 31st of December 1851 Marcus Root sold his part in the business. Samuel Root continued the business in cooperation with J.W. Thompson under the name of "Root & Co".
In 1852 - 1853 “Root & Co.” was registered as a daguerreian gallery on 363 Broadway, New York City. G.S. Cook of Charleston, S.C. participated in the business. From 1853 to 1857, Samuel Root was registered as a daguerreian photographer on 363 Broadway, New York City. He lived at the same address. In 1855 Samuel Root employed his brother-in -law Robert Henry Furman. In 1855 Samuel Root in 1855 Root sold his gallery to Thomas Faris. Robert H. Furman stayed employed till 1857. In 1859 Samuel Root & Co. advertised at 363 Broadway, New York City; Thomas Faris was the manager at that time.
In 1856 Samuel Root moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he was registered till 1882. In 1858 - 1859 he was registered as a daguerreian photographer at 166 Main Street and lived on Bluff Street. Samuel Root died in March 1889 of apoplexy at the home of his sister in Rochester, N.Y."
"Samuel Root also made daguerreotypes of such important people as Henry Clay and Bayard Taylor. Root's first wife died, and he remarried and in 1857 moved his family.⁴ He announced the grand opening of his gallery, S. ROOT'S NEW DAGUERREIAN GALLERY, at 166 Main Street over Glackmeyer and McDonald's clothing store on October 20th of that year. ⁵Root moved his gallery to several locations during his time in Dubuque. The 1859-1860 Dubuque City Directory listed his studio at the corner of 8th and Main. In 1863 the city directory carried a full-page advertisement listing his business location as "S. Root's Premium Daguerrean and Photographic Gallery" still at 166 Main Street. He appears to have maintained an interest in the New York studio which was managed by Thomas Faris.⁶ In 1865 the directory listed the gallery as the corner of 8th and Main.⁷ By 1868 he had moved to the Sanford Block at the northeast corner of 8th and Main. He remained there for nearly twenty years. Root and EPHRAIM CUTTER conducted a brief partnership, Root and Cutter Gallery, at that address in 1868.⁸ The 1870 to 1887 directories list Root as doing business alone at the same address.⁹ In 1876 Root spent a great deal of time adding a collection of "handsome ladies" to a display case at the foot of the stairs leading to his studio. When the collection was stolen, Root, showing good humor, blamed it on some "crusty old bachelor." ¹⁰ Root's daguerreotypes of many Dubuque residences and businesses formed the basis of a lithographic view of Dubuque published in 1858 by W.J. Gilbert, a local bookseller.¹² Root published several stereographic series including Views of Dubuque and Vicinity, Scenery in and Around Dubuque, Stereographic Views of Dubuque and Surrounding Scenery, and Scenery on the Mississippi and Tributaries in the Vicinity of Dubuque, Iowa.¹² In 1874 he was elected vice president of the national photographers' association at its convention in Chicago.¹³Root, referred to occasionally in newspapers as "the artist of the northwest," found subjects in nature. In 1880 following a flood, he completed a line of stereoscopic views of Dubuque and vicinity. As described in the Dubuque Herald, "they are just the thing for Dubuquers to send to their friends at a distance to let them know how near we came (to) being swamped."¹⁴ In 1882 a hail storm destroyed the skylight of Root's gallery, but he made the best of the incident by photographing some of the largest "stones."
Root died suddenly of a stroke while visiting his sister-in-law.Identified daguerreotypes are signed on the brass mat as:
S.ROOT
363 BROADWAY-N.Y (between Leonard and Franklin Street)Sources:1. "Marcus and Samuel Root" Historic Camera History Librarium http://historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium2/pm.cgi?action=app_display&app=datasheet&app_id=2024&2. Treadwell, T. K. and Darrah, William C. "Photographers of the United States of America," National Stereoscopic Association, 1994, Online: http://stereoworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/US-PHOTOGRAPHERS.pdf3. Historic Camera History Librarium.4. Palmquist, Peter E. and Kailbourn, Thomas R. Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide: A Biographical Dictionary, 1839-1865 p. 5235. Historic Camera History Librarium6. Palmquist, p. 5237. Ibid.8. Oldt, Franklin T., History of Dubuque County, Iowa, p. 8699. Palmquist, p. 52310. Ibid.11. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, November 21, 1876, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18761121&printsec=frontpage&hl=en12. Ibid..13. Ibid.14. "Caught on the Fly," The Daily Herald, July 23, 1880, p. 4#Marcus Aurelius Root (1808-1888), #Samuel Root (1819, Granville,.OH-1889, Rochester, NY), #J.W. Thompson, #Robert Henry Furman.
Portrait Unknown by Root
John Buttre Emgraving and Lithography Company
48 Franklin Street, New York, NY
Joseph Medill (1823-1899)
was a Canadian-American newspaper editor, publisher, and Republican Party politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, and he was Mayor of Chicago from after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 until 1873.
Joseph Medill daguerreotype, circa 1852
Joseph Medill was born April 6, 1823, in Saint John, New Brunswick, British North America, to Margaret and William Medill. His parents were Scots-Irish. In 1832, the family moved to Massillon, Ohio. He grew up on a farm and was taught English grammar, Latin, logic and philosophy from Reverend Hawkins, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canton. He graduated from the Massillon Academy in 1843. He read law under Hiram Griswold and was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1846.
Medill taught school in Navarre, Ohio, in the 1840s.
After joining the bar, he started a law practice with George W. McIlvaine. They dissolved their practice after three years.
In 1859 Medill purchased the Coshocton Democratic Whig then renamed the paper as the Democratic Whig. In 1853, Medill and Edwin Cowles started the Leader, a newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. (It was later absorbed by The Plain Dealer.) In 1854, the Tribune's part-owner, Captain J. D. Webster, asked Medill to become the paper's managing editor. Medill was further encouraged to come to Chicago by Dr. Charles H. Ray of Galena, Illinois, and editor Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune.
In 1855, Medill sold his interest in the Leader to Cowles and bought the Tribune in partnership with Dr. Ray and Alfred Cowles (Edwin's brother).
Under Medill's management, the Tribune flourished, becoming one of the largest newspapers in Chicago. Medill served as its managing editor until 1864, when Horace White became editor-in-chief. At that time Medill left day-to-day operations of the Tribune for political activities.
But White clashed with Medill over the presidential election of 1872. So, in 1873 Medill bought additional equity from Cowles and from White, becoming majority owner. In 1874, he replaced White as editor-in-chief. Medill served as editor-in-chief until his death. Medill was a leading Republican in Chicago. Under Medill, the Tribune became the leading Republican newspaper in Chicago. Medill was strongly anti-slavery, supporting both the Free-Soil cause and Abolitionism. Medill was a major supporter of Abraham Lincoln in the 1850s. Medill and the Tribune were instrumental in Lincoln's presidential nomination, and were equally supportive of the Union cause during the American Civil War. The Tribune's chief adversary through this period was the Chicago Times, which supported the Democrats.
Medill was among Chicago's Protestant elites (see, WASP). His rabid anti-Irish sentiment was published daily in The Chicago Tribune. He regularly dismissed the Irish as lazy and shiftless. “Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?” This came even as Irish laborers worked feverishly to complete Chicago's stately St. Patrick's church at Adams and Desplaines Streets in the mid-1850s.
Civil War 1860"s
In 1864, Medill left the Tribune editorship for political activity, which occupied him for the next ten years. He was appointed by President Grant to the first Civil Service Commission. In 1870, he was elected as a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional convention.
Medill joined with Samuel Snowden Hayes and Rosell Hough (prominent Chicago Democrats) in order to oppose conditions of military draft laws during the American Civil War, feeling that the government was demanding too many troops to be drafted out of Cook County. On February 23, 1865, they met with President Lincoln. On February 27, they had a meeting with both Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton rejected their concerns. Lincoln castigated them, particularly chewing-out Medill. Lincoln argued that Chicagoans and Medill's newspaper had been most uncompromising in their opposition to the south's stance on slavery, and therefore should muster the men demanded of them to supply the Union with troops.
Mayoralty
In 1871, after the Great Chicago Fire, Medill was elected mayor of Chicago as the candidate of the emergency fusion "Union Fireproof" party, defeating Charles C. P. Holden, and served as mayor for two years.
Medill was sworn in as mayor on December 4, 1871.
As mayor, Medill gained more power for the mayor's office, created Chicago's first public library, enforced blue laws, and reformed the police and fire departments.[1][8]
During his mayoralty, Medill worked successfully to have the Illinois General Assembly modify the city charter to increase mayoral authority.[8] As mayor-elect, on December 4, 1871, he tapped Judge Murray F. Tuley to draft a "Mayor's Bill" to be submitted to the General Assembly in its next session.[8] After successful lobbying by Medill and Tuley, the bill passed on March 9, 1872.[8] It went into effect July 1, 1872, and provided the mayor with the new authority to,
Serve as presiding officer of the Chicago Common Council (city council); to appoint all unelected city officials with the advice and consent of the Common Council.
Remove all unelected city officials, with only the requirement that they provide the City Council with reasons for such a removal.
Appoint the standing committees of the Common Council and serve as an ex officio member of those committees.
Veto any ordinance, including all or part of an appropriations ordinance, with a two-thirds vote of the Common Council required to override such as veto.
Exercise special police powers.
In his first year as mayor, Medill received very little legislative resistance from the Chicago Common Council. While he vetoed what was an unprecedented eleven Common Council ordinances that year, most narrowly were involved with specific financial practices considered wasteful and none of the vetoes were overridden.[8] He used his new powers to appoint the members of the newly constituted Chicago Board of Education and the commissioners of its constituted public library. His appointments were approved unanimously by the Common Council.
Medill sought funding for the recovery of Chicago. Medill had strongly lobbied on behalf of the city to receive state financial aid, taking advantage of his connections with state legislators in the state capitol of Springfield, Illinois.While, at the time, state law prohibited the direct appropriation of state funds to the city, Medill was able to get the legislature to pass a special act reimbursing the city for $2.9 million the city had expended on the state-owned Illinois and Michigan Canal. Medill also sought federal financial help. Medill took advantage of his connections in Washington, D.C., to seek such aid. In his third month in office, he wrote Vice President Schuyler Colfax to urge the passage of a tariff rebate that would help increase the supply of inexpensive material for the reconstruction of the city. Despite strong opposition from lumber interests, the legislation succeeded in passing. Medill also convinced President Grant to give a personal $1,000 contribution to aid the city's reconstruction. More than $5 million in gifts and loans were collected from people and cities across the world.
Taking Medill's lead, on February 12, 1872, the Common Council approved 26-6 an ordinance that prohibited the construction of wood frame buildings in city limits.
Medill was a strong Republican loyalist who supported President Grant for re-election in 1872. This caused a breach with Tribune editor, Horace White after White supported the breakaway Liberal Republicans, reformists who nominated Horace Greeley for president." ~ Wikipedia
CORRESPONDENCE
Dear Jeanette,
I'm unsure - I am not the best with faces, but for your judgement, I am attaching the one photo of Joseph Medill as a younger man we have in our collections (from the Patterson Family Papers). It was taken when he was approximately 29 years old, circa 1852. I've also attached a photo of our portrait of him from around the same time.
Best,
Natalia
Natalia Gutiérrez-Jones, MLIS, MA (she/hers)
Archivist & Librarian for Special Collections
Lake Forest College | Donnelley and Lee Library
555 N. Sheridan Road | Lake Forest, IL 60045
e: gutierrezjones@lakeforest.edu p: 847-735-5064
GRISWOLD
John Noble Alsop Griswold.
John Buttre Emgraving and Lithography Company
48 Franklin Street, New York, NY
"John Chester Buttre (June 10, 1821 – December 2, 1893) was an American steel-plate engraver and lithographer, responsible for some 3,000 engraved portraits of American political, naval and military personalities. He published The American Portrait Gallery in three volumes (1880–81) with text by his daughter, Lillian C. Buttre.
J Buttre Catalogue of engravings by J.C. Buttre, publisher, engraver, and plate printer, no. 48 Franklin Street, New York, between Broadway and Lafeyette
John Chester Buttre was born in Auburn, New York on June 10, 1821. He received his first drawing tuition from Hulaniski, a Polish exile living in Auburn. Later he applied himself to the study of portrait-painting. He was, however, better suited to drawing and wood-engraving. His work improving, he carried on the business of general engraver, producing card-plates, wood-cuts for newspapers and engraving silver-ware.
Arriving in New York in 1841, he devoted himself to steel-plate engraving, at which he soon became successful, his work appearing in many magazines and newspapers. He produced a widely acclaimed full-length portrait of President James Buchanan in 1858, together with a full-length portrait of Martha Washington. His Civil War work included sentimental images such as The Empty Sleeve, Only a Little Brook and Prayer in Camp, all of which sold well. Happy Days of Childhood (1871)
A resident of Ridgewood, New Jersey, Buttre died at his home there on December 2, 1893.
References
"Obituaries". The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. XXV (1): 41. January 1894. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
"John Chester Buttre". The National Magazine. Vol. XIX, no. 1. Cleveland: Western History Publishing Company. November 1893. p. 204. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Google Books.
"John Chester Buttre". The National Magazine. Vol. XIX, no. 1. Cleveland: Western History Publishing Company. November 1893. p. 205. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Google Books. Mr. Buttre died at his home in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on the 2nd of December, 1893.
The American Portrait Gallery in three volumes (1880–81) Lillian C. Buttre and J. Buttre.
Samuel Root
Additional:
MOMA
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/55431
Nelson
https://art.nelson-atkins.org/people/10499/samuel-root/objects
https://store.thanatos.net/products/set-of-three-1-4-family-daguerreotype-photos-by-samuel-root-new-york
ADDENDUM
Brady Studio, Fortes, Root's Studio
Root Studio, 363 Broadway
Photographer: Victor Prevost
Wax negative
1854
Smithsonian
6th
photograph is a Victor Prevost image titled Broadway bei der Franklin (Broadway at Franklin) from approximately 1854.It depicts the exterior of Samuel Root's Daguerreotype Gallery at 363 Broadway in New York City, featuring a prominent storefront sign.The original wax negative used to produce this print was historically documented to be at the Smithsonian Institution.
Sean Nolan"s Sumuel Root daguerreotypes
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Thomas Addis Emmet (24 April 1764 – 14 November 1827) was an Irish and American lawyer and politician. In Ireland, in the 1790s, he was a senior member of the Society of United Irishmen as it planned for an insurrection against the British Crown and Protestant Ascendancy. In American exile, he took up legal practice in New York, earned a reputation as a staunch abolitionist, and in 1812 to 1813 served as the state's Attorney General. He married Jane Patten (1771–1846), a daughter of John Patten and Jane (née Colville) Patten, in 1791.[12] Together, they were the parents of:[13]
Thomas Addis Emmet memorial obelisk, St. Paul's Chapel, Lower Manhattan, New York City
Robert Emmet, who was born in Dublin and became prominent a New York jurist and Irish American activist.[12]
Elizabeth Emmet (1794–1878), who married William Henry LeRoy (1795–1888), a son of Herman LeRoy and brother-in-law of Daniel Webster.[12]
Margaret Emmet (1794–1883), who did not marry.[12]
John Patten Emmet (1795–1842), who married Mary Byrd Tucker (1805–1860) in 1827; their daughter, Jane Emmet, married merchant John Noble Alsop Griswold.[12]
Thomas Addis Emmet (1797–1863), who married Anna Riker Thom (1805–1886), daughter of John Thom and Jane Margaret Riker.[12]
Jane Erin Emmet (1802–1890), who married Bache McEvers in 1825.[14] Their daughter Mary Bache McEvers married Sir Edward Cunard, 2nd Baronet (son of Sir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet, founder of the Cunard Line).[15]
Samuel F. B. Morse painted a famous portrait of Emmet that Maxwell kept.[16] Upon Maxwell's death in 1873, he left the painting to the New York Law Institute,[16] which was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery and was auctioned by Sotheby's in 2010.[16]
Through his son Robert, he was a grandfather of another prominent New York jurist and attorney general, Richard Stockton Emmet (himself the father of Richard S. Emmet Jr.), and great-grandfather of the notable American portrait artist sisters Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Field Emmet and Jane Emmet de Glehn,[18] as well as their first cousin Ellen Emmet Rand. Rosina's twin brother was West Point graduate and Medal of Honor winner Robert Temple Emmet.[19] He is the great-great-grandfather of the playwright Robert Emmet Sherwood. His direct descendant, French human rights lawyer Valentin Ribet, died aged 26 in the terrorist on the Bataclan in Paris on Friday 13 November 2015
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leading experts at Sotheby's include:Emily Bierman: Global Head of Prints & Photographs. She is highly renowned for handling major historic discoveries, including the earliest known daguerreotypes of an American President (John Quincy Adams) and First Lady.Aimee Pflieger: Senior Specialist, Photographs. She has overseen numerous high-profile photographic and daguerreotype sales, including masterwork collections.Anabel Wold: Specialist & Head of Sale, Photographs. She focuses on research, cataloguing, and evaluating photographic history.To reach out for an appraisal, valuation, or to consign a daguerreotype, you can submit an inquiry through the Sotheby's Sell with Us page, or contact the Photographs department directly via the Sotheby's Photographs page
Martin Noble Root (1781-1838) m.
Mary D. Barrett (1786-1826)
- Marcus Aurlius Root (1808-1888)
- Lineas Root (1811-1900)
- Mary Root 1813-
- Moses Root (1815-1890), farmer, Quarry Iowa
- Martha Root (1817-
- Samuel Root (1820-1889)
- Lysander Root (1822-1902)
- Damaris Root (1823-1824)
Inscription: "Iowa. Her affections, like the rivers of her borders, flow to an inseperable union."
https://www.nps.gov/articles/series.htm?id=EBD38616-C3F0-1309-6B133449553F2293
Photographic journals including
Philadelphia Photographer.
Humphrey's Journal of Photography and the Allied Arts and Sciences.
Photographic and Fine Arts Journal.
363 Broadway, NY
BOGARDUS, Abraham
Abraham Bogardus opened his renowned daguerreotype and photographic studio at 363 ]pBroadway in New York City in 1846. The building was a prominent hub for Civil War-era portraiture and celebrity photography.
L1846 363 Broadway, New York, New York.[1]
1846 Barclay & Greenwich Streets, New York.1
1847-1850 217 Greenwich Street, New York, New York.
1849 126 Washington Street, Newark, New Jersey.1
1850-1851 8 Clinton Street, Newark, New Jersey.1
1851-1863 229 Greenwich Street, Corner Barclay Street, New York, New York.
1862-1879 363 Broadway, New York, New York.
1870-1874 1153 Broadway, New York, New York.
1875-1886 872 Broadway, New York, New York.
1880-1889 349 Sixth Avenue, New York, New York.
1887-1890 11 East 42d Street, New York, New York
York City is a strange place. Manhattan always seems to have some new gigantic building going up, making it easy to forget that next to 21st Century skyscrapers are century-and-a-half old buildings that Abraham Lincoln looked at when he visited. 359 Broadway, not far from Federal Plaza, was built in 1852. Mathew Brady made the top three floors his studio and on February 27, 1860 Lincoln visited Brady’s studio for a campaign photograph. Some sources indicate that Brady had moved his operation to another temporary location on Bleecker Street when the campaign photo was taken.
When I visited the building on November 30, 2022 the store on the first floor of the five story structure was temporarily closed. It is the center building below with a front entrance painted red that housed a Halloween space just a month before I visited.
Three decades ago, New York City protected the building as a landmark, both because of its historical significance as the base of Brady’s operations and because of its architectural significance. New York’s Landmark Preservation Commission described Brady as “one of the most important photographers in
American history.”
Blood Manor was only on site for a short while but if you look at the windows above the sign you can see the exquisite 19th Century workmanship over the 21st Century schlock.
windows on each floor are different and the product of different designs. The building is Italianate and it was constructed in what in the 1840s was New York’s most prestigious shopping district. A.T. Stewart Dry Goods Story was just south of this building. At the time, it was the largest store catering to women in the country. Women’s “saloons,” really restaurants where women could relax and dine without being harassed by men, were nearby, with the largest just north of Brady’s studio. Taylor’s Saloon at 365 Broadway served 3,000 people on most days. When Brady had his studio on the top three floors, a saloon was operated on the first floor by the building’s owner James Thompson.
In the 1850s there were approximately eighty photo studios in Manhattan. Nearly half were on Broadway because it was a popular promenade where well-to-do people would stop in for a photo. According to the Landmark Commission report on the building:
Brady’s gallery, occupying the upper three floors of the
building, typified the luxurious standards maintained in many Broadway galleries at the time. ‘Ihrough an elegant street entrance flanked by display cases containing photographs, one ascended to a reception room richly furnished with satin wall hangings, gilt and enamelled chandeliers, velvet tapestry carpets, and rosewood furniture. Suspended on the walls were portraits of U.S. Presidents, European nobility, generals, and cultural
figures of all nations and professions. Past the reception room was an
office and a ladies’ parlor decorated in gold and green and furnished with rosewood furniture. ‘IWo “operating rooms” — one with a southern and one with a northern exposure — led from the reception room. Plate-cleaning and electroplating were done on the fourth floor, while the fifth floor provided storage space and a skylit studio for special lighting effects.
While it may have been photographed at Brady’s temporary Bleecker St., Brady’s February 27, 1860 photo helped Lincoln win the 1860 election. Lincoln was in New York to deliver his famous Cooper Union speech in Lower Manhattan. It is one of the most reproduced photos of Lincoln.
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