Photographs, vintage postcards and other ephemera


Saturday 26 January 2013

The Dispensary

This week's Sepia Saturday theme is about store fronts. My image is from Private Clark's album and it was taken in Singapore in 1909 while he was serving with the Middlesex Regiment.
The Dispensary, founded in 1879 by Dr. John Hutchinson Robinson, was located on Raffles Place. There's a 1905 photograph of The Dispensary taken from a different angle here and more information here. Further down the street are more stores including a French hairdresser and an outfitter.

Click below to visit this week's Sepia Saturday.

12 comments:

Kathy said...

So much to see in this photograph! Very interesting.

Lisa B said...

What a great photo, and I like how it's on the album page with the stamps and dried leaves. A lovely album!

Brett Payne said...

A perfect shopfront for this week's SS. I like the scrapbook nature of the album page, which makes it so much more personal.

Anonymous said...

Interesting architecture, and the street is very wide - maybe it just looks wide because it's not crowded with cars! Jo :-)

Wendy said...

Certainly this storefront is in the most exotic place among SS participants this week. The history was interesting - thanks for the link.

Mike Brubaker said...

A terrific example of a page from an Edwardian scrapbook. The stamps and leaves in the margins add a wonderful character to a great photo. Does anyone in Singapore still wear a sola topee?

Alan Burnett said...

Oh what wonderful detail. Get right into the picture is like walking down a foreign place in a foreign time. The essence of sepia.

Peter said...

I have to admit I had never heard the term 'outfitter' before. Was that a shop where you could buy gear and equipment when going into the jungle?
Your picture of Singapore certainly looks different from the Singapore I know with its Change Alley and Orchard Road.

Bob Scotney said...

This is a fascinating old card and full of detail when enlarged. Loved the 'coiffeur' signs.

Postcardy said...

That's an interesting old picture and it is enhance by the frame.

21 Wits said...

Wow- what an amazing photo- it's funny though, for me some of the words back then were kind of scary!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Perfect photo!

Kathy M.