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Newport, Rhode Island, circa 1906. "Bellevue Avenue." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Designed by the soon-to-be-famous firm and built in 1880, this is not the home of the Newport Casino, it IS the Newport Casino; so named from the beginning after the Italian word for "little summer house." Nothing to do with gambling. It encloses the oldest continuously used competition grass tennis courts in the world, hosting the first U.S. Lawn Tennis Championships in 1881. Further south on Bellevue Ave. are the street entrances to some of the grandest houses ever built in the U.S., the ocean-front summer "cottages" of Gilded Age millionaires.
Not sure what season this photo was taken, but when I looked at it, I had an intense feeling of summer. Heat, bird and bug noises, soft breeze, etc. Then it was gone. Gotta get out of this office...
That spear may have been thrown by Chief 'Gansett of Narragansett Beer fame!
The man on the right with the straw hat seems to be looking at the future, a new motor car. You can just see the differential in the rear axle.
The guys on the fence to the left of the car might be waiting for spare parts to arrive to fix the new contraption.
I see on the left edge, that the photographer has captured a spear in mid-flight. Probably from one of the indigenous native American tribes, attracted to Newport by rumors of a jazz festival.
Watch out! In the trees on the left; there's one and he's got a spear!
A closer look reveals that the poles were "kerfed." The wood was sawn on the corner edges at a 45 degree angle. That includes the top of the pole. I presume it was an attempt to make the light poles a little more attractive. Haven't seen that anywhere else.
[An even closer look reveals that the poles are concrete. - Dave]
It's all still there, and currently the home of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Newport Casino.
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