Thomas Houseworth n.d. Compliments of Thomas Houseworth, The Leading Photographer. 12 Montgomery St., San Francisco.
Carte de visite Private collection of Graham Pilecki (Steve Turner, 3 November 2026) One of the best photographers in San Francisco during the 1860s and 1870s was Thomas Houseworth. This promotional CDV was issued in the late 1870s and serves as a visual catalog of the diverse images available at his 12 Montgomery Street gallery. The elaborate collage features a prominent central portrait of Thomas Houseworth himself, surrounded by an array of historical images that defined Gilded Age California high society. It includes individual portraits of famous 19th-century stage actresses such as Helena Modjeska and Jeffreys Lewis, opulent Nob Hill mansions belonging to railroad barons Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, and landscapes of Yosemite, the Great Geysers, and the Cliff House.
