Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

September 2026 Vernacular Photo History Auction

Sat, Sep 19, 2026 11:00AM EDT
Lot 648

Boudoir Cards, Hotel del Coronado Interior and Exterior Views, Parker

Estimate: $100 - $200

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$100 $10
$200 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
A suite of seven boudoir cards documents the Hotel del Coronado, Coronado Beach, San Diego County, California, with views encompassing the exterior facade and six distinct interior spaces. The photographs were made by Parker, Photographer, of 740 Fifth Street, San Diego, whose studio was among the leading commercial view photographers of the region during the hotel's early years. The Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888, and the cards' mount style, black borders, and promotional reverse text firmly place this group in the late 1880s to early 1890s.

The interior views capture a formally appointed music room with a grand piano, tasseled drapes, and a gas chandelier; a dining room with ladder-back chairs surrounding a linen-covered table and a large carved sideboard with mirror; a parlor with a bay window, wicker chairs, and a fringed floor lamp; a sitting room with patterned wallpaper, diamond-motif tile trim, flanking rocking chairs, and an ornate fireplace surround; and an entrance hall recording a grand staircase, exposed-beam ceiling, and two figures seated at a small lace-covered table beside a second fireplace. The exterior view shows the multi-gabled, shingle-style main building with a wraparound veranda and two figures standing on the lawn.

The original 1888 hotel was constructed in the form of a parallelogram built around an open court, and its rooms faced either the ocean or the bay of San Diego. The suite captures the hotel at or very near its earliest period of operation, making it an unusually complete photographic survey of the landmark's interior appointments as originally furnished.

Reverses of several cards carry the printed imprint "Parker, Photographer, 740 Fifth Street, San Diego, Cal., Largest Collection of Views in Southern California." One card bears a handwritten inscription identifying the subject as the music room, front view. A second card's reverse carries a full printed promotional text headed "The Hotel del Coronado, Coronado Beach, San Diego County, California." One additional card reverse is inscribed in ink identifying the hall from the front door.

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