L'Architecture Americaine, by Albert Levy. alonsorobisco.es

VINTAGE PHOTOS: American Victorian Houses

L'architecture Americaine Albert Levy photography

Albert Levy is an architectural photographer born in France. Despite being French, his main work is the "Photographic Series of Modern American Architecture".

In this work Levy documented the American Victorian Architecture of the XIX century.

Each serie includes 30-40 albumen photographs with buildings of New York, Boston or Chicago. Levy gives us an Index in the photo albums to identify, usually but not always, the name of the architect and owner of the residence.

The photographs were made for architectural firms and consisted on short series, very expensive at its time. Nowadays, we know very few works by Levy and most of them are in American Libraries and Museums.

Albert Levy made a selection of these series in the set titled "L’Architecture Americaine" consisting on three albums:

Édifices publics et établissements privés
Habitation Urbaines
Habitations Suburbaines

If we want to know the history of American Architecture of the XIX century Levy’s photographs shows us the buildings as they where at his time, many of them, are today cities’ landmarks. Others have been destroyed.

Albert Levy’s spreads also through many countries of Europe as France, Italy and England.

Levy wrote in his catalogue these words:

Je réclame pour ma collection de photographies, aujourd`hui composée de plus de 2500 sujets différents, et qui s’augmentera progressivement

1º La bon choix des sujets ;

2º La qualité et la finesse des détail ;

3º Une conservation indéfinie ;

4º L`uniformité de grandeur

5º Le prix modéré

Now, in this album, you can see that these words are true.

This photo album is an edition of "Chez André, Daly Fils & Cie"

In this section of the web you can see all I the information I have gathered about Albert Levy.

If you would like to see another album by Levy, go to Villas et Chalets pittoresques album.

Special acknowledgements to:
- Wm. B. Becker. The American Museum of photography.
- Arnold Lewis. Professor of Art History. The College of Wooster.
- Jerry Wager Head. Rare book reading room Library of Congress.
- Linda Duychak. Art reference Librarian Kolher Library.
- Gardner,Cecile W. Fine Arts Reference Librarian. Boston Public Library.
- Jacqueline Martinet. Département de Estampes et de la Photographie Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Anne-Marie Sigouin. Collections Reference Assistant Centre Canadien d' Architecture.

L'ARCHITECTURE AMERICAINE