Of the many thousands (I believe that is no exaggeration?) of photographic studios that were established in the UK in the Victorian era, how many have survived to this day in a recognisable form?

As the owner of one such studio, I have been researching this topic, and to my surprise have so far found only about a dozen. The latest updated list can be seen here:

https://www.petworthpenthouse.com/surviving-victorian-photographic-studios.html

Surely there must be more? I'd love to hear from anyone who knows of one.

Also I'd be grateful if anyone could suggest a more accurate figure on how many studios actually were established in the UK in the C19th.

Richard

You need to be a member of British Photographic History to add comments!

Join British Photographic History

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • We have added two XIXth. Century photographic studios in Portugal (Golega and Funchal, Madeira), both of them very well preserved and open as museums of Photography. 

    In Spain most of surviving studios were built on early XXth. Century. Should I include them in the map? 

    M. Santos



    PetworthPenthouse said:

    Thanks Maria, that's interesting.

    It would be good to add a pin for each of those studios to this map:

    https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1DfRaF4bdu_DvoViLTTw1jQ2h_cz...

    (There is a plan to make a different coloured pins for "recognisable", and "disappeared", studios, but I will leave that to the Admin of the Facebook group "Old photographic studio hunt", who has set this map up.)

    Meanwhile, I am going to limit my researches to studios in the UK.

    Richard

    https://www.petworthpenthouse.com/surviving-victorian-photographic-...


    María de los Santos García Felgu said:

    Thanks a lot for your interest. 

    In Spain we have some recognisable daylight studios: two of them still active (both of them in Barcelona, from around 1915-1920), some of them closed (two in Cordoba, as court galleries, from the first years of XXth. century), a big glass gallery (now an apartment) in Madrid.   

    The book is sold in the Museo Insular de La Palma (Santa Cruz de la Palma),  museo.insular@cablapalma.es

  • I was giving some conservation advice so had greater access to the various rooms and in consequence was able to see more.

  • Thanks. I visited Linley Sambourne House  good many years ago, but don't remember the darkroom. I now read that his bathroom doubled up as the darkroom.

    It's well worth a visit for anyone interested in life as lived by the Victorian cultural set.

  • Not exactly a studio but there are some darkroom traces still in situ in Linley Sambourne House in London, or were the last time I visited.  In normal circumstances it is open to the public.  Linley Sambourne was a cartoonist for Punch and used photographic studies as a starting point for many of his cartoons. https://www.museumslondon.org/museum/191/18-stafford-terrace-linley...  


  • Yes, now found the Old Photographic Studio Hunt  group on Facebook. And the very useful map of studios (I think no requirement to be a member of the Group to access the map?) here: 

    https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1DfRaF4bdu_DvoViLTTw1jQ2h_cz...

    Anyone can add the Victorian and Edwardian studios to that map.

    Richard


    Tony Richards said:

    Hi,

    The group is called Old Photographic Studio Hunt on Facebook.

    Marcel Safier said:

    Hi Tony, I've looked and can't find that Facebook group or anything of a similar name. Could you please provide a link? Cheers! Marcel

  • Thanks Maria, that's interesting.

    It would be good to add a pin for each of those studios to this map:

    https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1DfRaF4bdu_DvoViLTTw1jQ2h_cz...

    (There is a plan to make a different coloured pins for "recognisable", and "disappeared", studios, but I will leave that to the Admin of the Facebook group "Old photographic studio hunt", who has set this map up.)

    Meanwhile, I am going to limit my researches to studios in the UK.

    Richard

    https://www.petworthpenthouse.com/surviving-victorian-photographic-...


    María de los Santos García Felgu said:

    Thanks a lot for your interest. 

    In Spain we have some recognisable daylight studios: two of them still active (both of them in Barcelona, from around 1915-1920), some of them closed (two in Cordoba, as court galleries, from the first years of XXth. century), a big glass gallery (now an apartment) in Madrid.   

    The book is sold in the Museo Insular de La Palma (Santa Cruz de la Palma),  museo.insular@cablapalma.es

  • Thanks a lot for your interest. 

    In Spain we have some recognisable daylight studios: two of them still active (both of them in Barcelona, from around 1915-1920), some of them closed (two in Cordoba, as court galleries, from the first years of XXth. century), a big glass gallery (now an apartment) in Madrid.   

    The book is sold in the Museo Insular de La Palma (Santa Cruz de la Palma),  museo.insular@cablapalma.es

    María de los Santos 

    PetworthPenthouse said:

    That's very good to hear you have been working on a similar project.

    So how many Victorian daylight studios do you think have survived in a recognisable form in Spain?

    How can one buy your book?

    Richard

    María de los Santos García Felgu said:

    Congratulations!

    I'm also interested in old photographic galleries and just published a book about:

    Cabañas de cristal: galerías de retrato y estudios de fotografía en España, Santa Cruz de la Palma, 2020.

    252 pages, 75 black and white illustrations and 28 in color.

    My point is Spain, but I give examples from different places (Europe, India, USA...).

    We'll be able to have a catalogue.

    Good luck!

  • Hi,

    The group is called Old Photographic Studio Hunt on Facebook.

    Marcel Safier said:

    Hi Tony, I've looked and can't find that Facebook group or anything of a similar name. Could you please provide a link? Cheers! Marcel

    Tony Richards said:

    Hi Richard,
    Excellent project, there's a Facebook group called The Old Photo Studio Hunt that has some info.
    There's one on Lake Road, Windermere. Now a Chinese restaurant. If I could figure out how to attach a pic via my phone I would. Have a look for Golden Fortune on Google Maps.

    Tony

  • Ah, so is that where the studio was? I have to say I love the modern Great Court, so I would cut them a bit of slack. 


    Nicholas John Burnett said:

    Very sorry to read that.  I left the museum in late 1986.  Presumably it was demolished as part of the Great Court Scheme.

  • Very sorry to read that.  I left the museum in late 1986.  Presumably it was demolished as part of the Great Court Scheme.

    PetworthPenthouse said:

    Thank you.

    The British Museum blog shows a photo of Fenton's studio in the 1980s, and then says "The studio was continuously used by photographers until the 1960s when it became a graphic art studio, and was demolished in the 1990s."

    If that's what our leading museum does, what hope do we have?

    Nicholas John Burnett said:

    Hello Richard,

    When I worked at the British Museum in the 1980s Roger Fenton's old studio was still there.  It was being used by a designer but I understand there were one or two stands still present (I didn't get to see it but my boss did).  No idea of its current condition.

    Nicholas

This reply was deleted.