EARLY WESTERN AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL & OCCUPATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS – BAKER BLOCK, LOS ANGELES, 1878 / NICOLAI BROS. PLANING MILL, PORTLAND, OREGON, 1877
Item #1769
Two original albumen photographs mounted back-to-back on a single, irregularly trimmed board, measuring approximately 7¼ x 9¼ inches. An unusual pairing of early Western American photographs documenting construction, industry, and labor in Los Angeles, California, and Portland, Oregon, during the 1870s.
The Los Angeles photograph, captioned “Builders of the Baker Block, Los Angeles Cal. 1878,” depicts approximately thirty-five construction workers posed before the unfinished brick and timber framework of the Baker Block. The men, many holding carpentry and masonry tools, are arranged in several rows, with one worker perched above the group. A wheelbarrow, lumber, and construction equipment fill the foreground. The photograph provides an exceptional early occupational record of the men responsible for constructing one of nineteenth-century Los Angeles's prominent commercial buildings.
The reverse bears a second photograph, inscribed “Nicolai Bros. Portland O. 1877,” showing the Central Planing & Moulding Mills and Sash & Door Factory in Portland, Oregon. Workers stand before the wooden industrial building, surrounded by horse-drawn wagons, stacks of finished lumber, and other equipment. The building's large painted signs identify its operations, offering a detailed view of the Pacific Northwest's developing lumber and building trades.
Both photographs are mounted on the same board, which has been unevenly trimmed. General toning, soiling, edge wear, and corner losses, with more pronounced damage to the Los Angeles photograph, including losses along the upper left and lower right edges. Despite these defects, the principal subjects remain clearly visible.
A compelling survival combining two dated and geographically distinct views of Western American industrial development, with particular interest for collectors of early California and Oregon photography, architectural history, and occupational imagery.
Price: $750.00