View of the south side of Chestnut Street between 6th and 7th Streets showing the daguerreotype studio of McClees & Germon at 160 Chestnut Street. Neighboring tenants include Howell & Brothers, paper hangings (156 Chestnut); Charles Oakford, hats (158 Chestnut); James H. Orne, carpets (160 Chestnut); and the adjoining businesses of Jones Hotel and J.C. Smith, piano fortes and J. Couenhoven, music store (162 Chestnut). Also shows horse-drawn wagons parked in the foreground. The partnership between James E. McClees and Washington Lafayette Germon lasted from 1846 to 1855, and was located at this address from 1854 until a fire destroyed the studio on March 15, 1855., McClees 1855-10., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia., Reproduced in The Print and Photograph Department of the Library Company of Philadelphia's Center City Philadelphia in the 19th century (Portsmouth, N.H.: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), p. 56., Arcadia caption text: Photographer James McClees captured this view of the south side of the 600 block of Chestnut Street showing the studio he shared with Washington Lafayette Germon shortly before the building was destroyed by fire in March 1855. At the time, Philadelphia, a leading center of American photography, supported more than 120 photographers. Although signage on the building advertised the men as daguerreotypists, by the mid 1850s McClees was also producing some of the earliest photographic views of Philadelphia printed on paper., McClees, a prominent Philadelphia photographer and daguerreotypist, produced some of the earliest paper photographic views of Philadelphia between 1853 and 1859.
Creator
M'Clees, Jas. E. (James E.), photographer
Date
ca. 1855
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - McClees - Businesses [(7)1322.F.57d]
Photograph album commissioned by antiquarian Ferdinand Dreer containing twenty salted paper prints depicting nineteenth century Germantown landmarks. Views include prominent and historic residences, businesses, a school, and a church, predominately on Germantown Avenue. Images accompanied by numbered annotations of brief notes about the history of, significance of, and persons associated with the buildings., Photographs depict the Germantown Mennonite Church (6121 Germantown Avenue) and Samuel Keyser residence (6133 Germantown Avenue); Germantown Academy (110 School House Lane); Cliveden (6401 Germantown Avenue); Congress Hall boarding house (6100 block Germantown Avenue); Leonard Nutz residence (5329 West Penn Street); John Fanning Watson residence (Price Street); Thomas Godfrey Farm (Limekiln Pike at Church Lane); Samuel Morris residence (5442 Germantown Avenue); Roberts Mill (Church Lane at Wingohocking Street); John Smith residence, i.e., Daniel Keyser residence, near the old turnpike toll gate (5800 block Germantown Avenue); Michael Keyser, i.e., John Knorr residence (6100-6106 Germantown Avenue); John Johnson residence used as an Underground Railroad station (6306 Germantown Avenue); Parson Rodney House, i.e., Macknett's Tavern (5900 block Germantown Avenue); Benjamin Engle residence (5938 Germantown Avenue); Christopher Sower residence (5300 Germantown Avenue); Pugh residence, i.e., James De La Plaine residence (5521-5523 Germantown Avenue); Bank of Germantown (5275-5277 Germantown Avenue); Rock House (East Penn Street) ; Michael Billmeyer residence (6505-6507 Germantown Avenue); and Washington Tavern (6200 block Germantown Avenue). Also contains a lithograph portrait of John Kelpius, a founder of Germantown, printed by P.S. Duval & Sons., Paper binding., Title page inscribed: Pictorial views of house & places in Germantown in 1850. Taken for F.J. Dreer., The Johnson House was built 1765-1768 by master builder Jacob Knor at 6306 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA. John Johnson resided in the house during the Battle of Germantown. The dwelling sustained damage including a hole in the parlor door caused by a cannon ball and a chipped corner. It served as a station on the Underground Railroad. The Johnson family owned the house until 1908. The Woman's Club of Germantown purchased the house in 1917, and in 1980, gifted the house and its contents to the Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust to operate as a house museum. In 2002, the deed of ownership was transferred to the Johnson House Historic Site, Inc., Cliveden is the colonial residence built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. It was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., Fifteen of images duplicated in F. De B. Richards Photograph Collection., Duplicate album with variant annotations entitled "Houses & Places in Germantown in 1859 illustrated by John F. Watson" in the collections of the Germantown Historical Society, Gift of Mrs. Charles Willing, 1972., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator
Richards, F. De B. (Frederick De Bourg), photographer
Date
1859
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Richards album [66037.D]
