Californie

1888 · 60968 — San Diego CA: Parker Photographers ca. 1888. Two mounted boudoir-sized albumen photographs 7.5 x 4.5 in. mounted on 10 x 12 in. gray studio board w/ captions and photographer’s imprint w/in negative ink manuscript annotations on versos slight bowing to boards very minor wear to corners still VG exemplars. These remarkable scarce albumen photographs depict the newly completed Sweet Water Dam in Spring Valley CA which at a height of 90 feet was at the time the tallest masonry arch dam in the United States; and the also newly completed and now historic Hotel Del Coronado. The Sweet Water Dam was built under the direction of civil engineer Frank E. Brown who had also overseen the Bear Valley Dam and enabled the economic development and expansion in Southern California of the National City Chula Vista and Bonita regions. The Hotel Del Coronado was a key part of the land development of Coronado by Elisha Babcock and Hampton Story who contracted with architect James Reid to prepare preliminary sketches and in 1887 the Reid Brothers of Evansville IN oversaw the construction which eventually used over a million board feet of lumber using extensive California redwood siding for termite resistance. The Hotel Del Coronado served as the perfect writing place for L. Frank Baum where he later penned Dorothy & The Wizard 1908 Road to Oz 1909 and the Emerald City 1910. Parker 1827-1920 was a Massachusetts-born photographer who initially located in San Francisco by 1871 Los Angeles from 1878-1880 and by the mid-1880’s in San Diego. Parker Photographers, hardcover