Albert Levy (photographer) - Photography

Photography

The main occupation of Albert Levy was Architectural photography. He developed most of his work in the 1870s. He started working in Europe and then he move to the United States when he was 33 years old, but he still worked in Europe. His catalogue of 1887 (with 2500 titles) demonstrates that he did architectural photography in France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. The took albumen photographies that collected with the following standards:

• Albumen 20x24 cm
• Cardboard 29x41 cm
• Albums with 30-40 photos each

He focused his work on the new buildings of important architects like:

• Herter Brothers - Twin Houses, New York
• Richard Morris Hunt - William Kissam Vanderbilt Residence, New York
• George Browne Post - Cornelius Vanderbilt Residence, New York
• Henry Hobson Richardson - Oakes Ames Memorial Library, North Easton, Massachusetts
• Calvert Vaux - Samuel J. Tilden Residence, New York
• Charles B. Atwood - Dr. Stewart Webb and H. McKinley Twombly residences, New York (originally for William Henry Vanderbilt)
• C. Pfeifer - The Berkshires, New York
• E. H. Kendall - Odgen Goelet residence, New York
• R.H.Robertson
• Peabody and Stearns
• Viollet le Duc
• William Le Baron Jenney
• Guerinot

Important owners of the buildings he took photos are William Henry Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William Kissam Vanderbilt, Samuel J. Tilden, Oliver Ames, John Harjés.

His most important contribution to history consists on the "Albert Levy's Architectural photographic series" that are a collection of at least 36 albums with 30-40 albumen prints of the architecture of the United States in the 1870s. In these series there are photos of Washington, Baltimore, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Albany, Chicago, Cleveland, Brooklyn N.Y., Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit and Milwaukee among others. He used to create the series depending on the type of buildings been photographed. Some of the series are:

• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: First Series, Private City Dwellings.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Second Series, Country Dwellings.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Third series, French Gothic and Renaissance, Civil and Domestic Architecture, New York
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Fifth Series, Messrs. Vanderbilt's Mansions
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Ninth Series, Street Fronts.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Tenth Series, Sea Shore Cottages and Country Houses
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Twelfth Series, Modern Street Architecture of Berlin, Street Fronts and Apartment Houses.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Sixteenth Series, American Private City Dwellings
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Thirty-First Series, Street Fronts, Stores, Office Buildings, Etc.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Thirty-Third series, American City and Country Residences, etc., New York.
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Thirty-Fifth Series, Sea Shore Cottages And Country Houses, Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Maine
• Albert Levy's Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture: Thirty-Sixth Series, Sea-Shore Cottages, Etc., Newport, R.I., And Long Branch, N.J

This unique archive of the Architecture of the United States in the 19th century was lately edited by Andre, Daly fils et Cie. (French editors specialized in Architecture) to collect the best of the Albert Levy's architectural series in the album "L'Architecture Americaine" and show it in Europe. This collection consists of 3 series of albums:

• 1st Series: Public Buildings
• 2nd Series: Private Urban Residences
• 3rd Series: Suburban Homes

Each series has 36 photos. All of them are described in the book "American Victorian Architecture".