Shell damage to the parlor of Dunlop's house in Petersburg, Virginia is recorded in this albumen cabinet card, dating to circa 1864 to 1865 and associated with the "War Memories" series documenting the Civil War siege of the city. Petersburg endured nearly continuous Union artillery bombardment from July 1864 through April 1865, and images from this period constitute some of the earliest systematic documentation of civilian war damage in American photography. No photographer's imprint is visible on the mount.

The interior view looks toward a tall double-hung parlor window whose lower sash has been blown inward, with exposed brick visible through the gap below the sill. A large breach tears through the left-side brick wall, revealing splintered wooden framing above and daylight beyond. Rubble of broken brick and plaster covers the entire floor in the foreground, and a curtain remnant still hangs loosely from the upper window frame.

Dunlop's house was described in the War Memories catalog as one of the finest residences in Petersburg, making the shell breach through its parlor wall a pointed illustration of the bombardment's reach into the city's most substantial structures.

The reverse bears a manuscript inscription reading "Harriette F. Durant" in ink cursive. The catalog title associated with this image reads "Where one of Grant's messengers called."