What kind of building is this and where??

[martianuk]

What a pity that the titles on the books on the near table are not readable.  On the sharpened version of the picture, the item next to them looks like rosary beads.  How was this pic digitised? Can it be done at greater resolution?

I (hadyn this time, not Kirsty!) am currently in a different country to the originals (on holiday visiting family). The picture was digitised by scanning, I can't remember the original resolution but (broadly) between 600 and 1200 dpi. While I'm happy to re-scan at higher resolution, being in a different country is a slight drawback  The image of just the photos on the near table were rescanned at high res, but you can see that this hasn't really helped their clarity.

Hadyn

[Gadget]

I'm not sure if these will come out in enough detail but this is of the photos on the left hand side. There seem to be so many images of what looks like mostly women/girls. Very odd. Could it be the room of a governess/nurse with photos of her past charges?

Also, 600 -1200 dpi should be ample for scanning. The problem is probably because of the original process and more clarity might be impossible.

Gadget

[atom12]

Hi

I did notice that most of the photos appeared to be of females.  So the governess idea sounds feasible.

Is there any significance to the stuffed owl in the glass bell jar sitting about the middle of the chest on the right-hand side! Perhaps it's just a Victorian collectible, unless someone knows otherwise. 

[martianuk]

Are these people related to the women?

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,190511.0.html


Gadget

Yes, but how closely I'm not sure. They're associated with the spinsters' parents - who I can't see in the photo, but their uncle is the one standing up.

Their mother was born in London and married in the Clerkenwell/Islington area. She was an embroiderer and I'm wondering if she made the piece on the table for the display. She made altar cloths too......

Kirsty

[Tuscany]

For those worried about the occupants ablutions, on the table, where the altar would be if this were a church, under what looks like a mirror, there appears to be a large object which could be a basin.  To the right is something else that is possibly a jug.

[Christopher]

and it does look Continental Europe in style - not sure if it's German,austrian,  French or Dutch 

The ancestors did send their daughters to a french finishing school and one of them did a stint performing in a Parisian circus....

You gave me food for thought, Gadget!

Kirsty

Hiya Kirsty,

I wonder if everyone is looking at the photo from the wrong angle. One of the daughters doing a stint in a Parisian circus makes me wonder if we are looking at the interior of an old circus caravan through the entrance door. The alternative could be a small tent where the circus artists stored their props.

Chris

[Lydart]

I think I disagree with Gadget about the rails not being altar rails ... there is a step on 'our' side of the rails, which is where those receiving communion would kneel.  If the rails are just room dividers, why have a step ?

[Gadget]

It was just a theory, Lydart. My view was that it had a step because of a change in levels.

I don't think it looks like a church, chapel or any other religious place of worship. The back wall is more like the end of a room - fireplace or alcove than an altar end to me. Believe me, I have knelt at such rails a few times.

Gadget

[Christopher]

Is my caravan theory out the window

I've had another thought. Are any of the members who have posted on this thread a member of the Society of Architectural Historians? If not does anyone know a member of this Society? They tend to have a look at the insides and outsides of buildings and might be able to assist with this picture.