OK, so I ain't learned to read too good. Coalyard it is! However, it still doesn't explain the odd window under the curtain.

[Looks like the average old-fashioned side curtain to me, with a flap for opening the door. - Dave]

Mysterious curtain covering a mysterious window. It gets curiouser and curiouser. Anyone got a clue? Maybe if we knew what their business was it would help.

[The place is a coalyard, just like the caption says. - Dave]

I would assume that the windows are covered by rubber or gutta percha, a rubber like material. Leather just doesn't seem practical for that. Goodyear actually made gutta percha products (combs, rain ponchos for the Army, etc.) before it got into the tire business.

I'm no expert but I would guess the window curtains would be waterproofed (rubberised?) canvas of some sort.

Why would "Office" have a period after it, does anyone know? It suggests to me some sort of abbreviation... but maybe a period on a sign was used for different reasons back then.

I love imagining the whole scene at the time of the shot -- where was the camera? Who was the photographer? Were there other people watching while the shot was taken? A whole story just outside the frame.

[Much if not most signage in the 19th and early 20th centuries had period punctuation. As in the "SALOON." signs seen in old westerns. - Dave]

I wonder what that material is around the side windows. Leather?

Just love those tires.