Two albumen cartes de visite document Cole's Gallery, a purpose-built photographic studio of notable architectural ambition, and what is believed to be a portrait of its proprietor, the two cards having been kept together as a pair. No photographer's imprint appears on either reverse. The building exterior, street character, and style of dress in the portrait are consistent with the mid to late 1860s.

The exterior view shows a single-story brick building on a corner lot, its facade dominated by three tall round-arched openings with a striped canvas awning sheltering the central entrance. A decorative cornice with dentil molding runs the full width of the front elevation, with a small oval cartouche reading "Cole's" at center. The words "Cole's Gallery" are painted in large block letters across the full length of the side elevation. A gas street lamp stands at the corner, and two figures are visible at the entrance.

The portrait card shows a young man seated in three-quarter view, dark curly hair and a short beard, wearing a loosely knotted cravat and a dark sack coat, holding a small book or album in his lap. A daguerreotype camera with a single lens is partially visible at his right shoulder atop a lace-draped table, strongly suggesting he is a photographer rather than a general portrait subject.

The pairing of an exterior view of a named gallery with a portrait of a man posed beside a camera is consistent with the practice of photographers documenting their own studios and professional identity during this period.