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"Ruins of Stanford Mansion and Hopkins Art Institute, San Francisco." Aftermath of the April 18, 1906, earthquake and fire. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
The monkey puzzle tree in the front yard.
I wonder how long after the fire that this was taken? The large utility pole seems to have more guy wires anchored to it than service wires on its cross arms while another wooden one (without any wires) looks, fresh even with all the spiked-boot climbing evidence on it.
Also, the irony of the fire hydrant - likely rendered useless if the quake sheared the mains supplying it. Some SF buildings had private cisterns, which in a few rare cases mitigated damage.
Amazing how well turned out these people are in the midst of their ruined city complete with attractive hats, coats and dresses. They even have their Brownie cameras in tow (I am guessing that is what is being carried by the man in the foreground)
An interesting cross-section of the city's population, including three U.S. Marines, captured apparently unaware of the photographer's presence. It would seem that a relatively fast-acting camera was used, based on the motion captured in the frame.
[Daylight exposures of fractions of a second were commonplace by this time. -tterrace]
I found this image from nearly the same spot before the fire. The burned tower in the background of the Shorpy photo is still under construction in this image.
Interesting - that square utilities pole. Looks like possibly constructed of concrete. And, typical of devastating fires, nothing left except for the chimneys.
There's a good pre-earthquake photo of the mansion from almost the same angle at:
http://www.ronhenggeler.com/the_big_4/1-15.htm
Now the "Renaissance San Francisco Stanford Court Hotel" is on the site at California & Powell streets in SF:
At least the lamps survived.
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