A Moment Back In Time: "Respectfully Yours..."

The site where 140 Wyckoff stood approximately once upon a time.

The site is now part of the Gowanus Housing Complex.

I came across this wonderful old photograph of six children standing in a Brooklyn doorway a while back and had always planned to seek out the address of photographer B.J. Mulligan, who took the photo in the early 1900's.

A stamp on the back indicates that Mulligan had his studio at 140 Wyckoff Street active at the turn of the last century. I found no other mention of him online, but there is a mention in the New York Times of a John Mulligan having died at 140 Wyckoff Street in 1903.

I finally took the time to check out the address,but the building is long gone, having been replaced in the late 1940's with the Gowanus Housing Development.

A handwritten note on the back says:

"In the upper row William Adelaide Elizabeth.

In the lower row from left to right- David Joseph and Jane. Some time later Neville sent Agnes' likeness and it will give me great pleasure to send a likeness of their mother. Respectfully, D.A. McShane"*

There is no indication of where the photo was taken, but the children may have posed in front of the studio on Wycoff Street. In any case, I would love to know more about them, the photographer and McShane. Don't you?

*At least, I think this is what it says.

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