A Fine Antique Photo To Consider

[Willa]

I don't know anything about this photo except that I found it online today. There are many amazing details to ponder:

tumblr_pmd1a2eKPS1sn9lzco1_1280.jpg (80.02 KiB) Viewed 637 times

[Gothichome]

Willa, what a great image. Assuming the home is the same on both sides, it will have fourteen fireplaces I would think, and just look at all that fancy millwork, and cresting, and king posts surrounded by cresting. Ooooooo, I like it. My mind says that’s what Gothichome should look like, my bank account says forget it. Probably about the same age as Gothichome.
The car I would think early teens, a high end automobile maybe a Lincoln. It has naphtha gas lighting so defore electric lighting and it’s a right hand drive. The ladies in the car are only missing thier suffragette sashes.
Sooooooo.
Picture taken early teens a little over thirty years after the home was built. And notice the Craftsman influence on the neighbouring home. I think it would be relatively new, maybe ten years old or less.

[Manalto]

Great photo. Thanks!

[awomanwithahammer]

Oh, those hats! And that's a lot of gingerbread!

[awomanwithahammer]

Ooooooo, I like it. My mind says that’s what Gothichome should look like, my bank account says forget it.

Just give James your credit card and he'll arrange it!

[GinaC]

Oh, those hats! And that's a lot of gingerbread!

You took the words right out of my mouth! And those ladies certainly do look pleased with themselves, don't they? I wonder what they were doing.

[heartwood]

I think the women are on their way to a big party to celebrate their hard fought right to vote!

I hope the house still stands in all its glory........
.....jade

[Manalto]

[I wonder what they were doing.

Driving bird species to the brink of extinction?

[GinaC]

I think the women are on their way to a big party to celebrate their hard fought right to vote!

I hope the house still stands in all its glory........
.....jade

Amen, sister!

[Manalto]

Fashion and the age of the car should help somewhat in dating the photo, understanding that we mustn't assume that either is brand new.

From "Lost in the Pond" web site:

"Before the 1908 launch of the Ford Motor Company's Model T, virtually every car in the United States placed the steering wheel on the right. In fact, Ford only made the change to make it easier for people entering on the passenger side to avoid oncoming traffic.

Until this, though, long after a law was passed in 1792 mandating that vehicles - horse buggies and the like - must travel along the right-side of the road, it was widely accepted that steering should take place on the right. Evidence of this can still be seen today, in fact, in Amish communities, where horse buggies are steered in this manner.

When mass production of American cars began in the late 19th Century, it was widely viewed that right-hand steering was the preferred method, since it had evidently worked out just fine for the journeymen of yesteryear.

However, by the turn of the century, motor companies began looking for innovative new ways to sell their latest product. Cadillac introduced the first lever-operated headlights, while the Marmon Motor Company is believed to have pioneered the use of a rear-view mirror at the 1911 Indianapolis 500. And so it was that Ford introduced left-hand steering in 1908.

Because it was later seen that left-hand steering was conducive to safer driving (since it was easier for the driver to judge his or her proximity to oncoming traffic), this new way of steering became virtually standardised by the mid-1910s (it should be noted, though, that some automobiles - such as those from the Pierce Arrow line - only converted to left-hand in the early 1920s)."