Queen Street, looking south from between Fort and Customs Streets
Undated late nineteenth century image (ca.1890?) by an unidentified photographer* - 2022
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Historical image: unidentified photographer* | Queen Street and Victoria Arcade, Auckland, New Zealand | Scottish National Portrait Gallery
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The Victoria Arcade Building is just left of centre, with Blackett's Building (a three-storey structure at this date; its fourth level was added in 1912) behind it on the corner of Shortland Street.
* At the time of writing (2022), National Galleries Scotland attribute this undated photograph to James Valentine, even though the image was made years after his death. Valentine—who headed the UK photographic publishing company Valentine's of Dundee—died in 1879 (some sources say 1880). This image was clearly made later; for example, the picture shows the Bank of New Zealand building (see detail below) with seven bays; two bays were added to the original five-bay structure in 1882 (according to Heritage New Zealand), so the date can be no earlier.
But wait: James Valentine's son George Dobson Valentine was living and working in Auckland during the 1880s (died 1890) and a then-and-now treatment of a photograph of his, of more or less the same section of Queen Street, is on this site, here. That picture evidently dates from the mid-1880s and shows a two-storey timber building to the left of the Imperial Hotel on the corner of Fort Street, replaced in this photograph by a massive masonry affair (The Mutual Life Association of Australasia building, dating from 1887), so the image on this page is clearly from a later date.
Above: The Bank of Zealand Building with its seven bays is at centre, to the right of the nearest power pole.
So, who took this picture? It's tempting to suppose George Valentine, but perhaps a more likely candidate is John Samuel Powell who, representing the Valentine company, visited New Zealand in 1892 with the intention of acquiring images of the country during his stay of nine or more months. For more on Powell's New Zealand visit see this article by Ken Hall on the Christchurch Art Gallery site.
Below: Whatever the identity of the photographer, he made at least two exposures of this scene. The second plate has survived in the form of a rather faded and cropped copy in the collection of Auckland Libraries. (The movement of the shadows reveal that this image was captured before the one at the top of this page.)
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 7-A04799
National Galleries Scotland are not alone in giving the impression that James Valentine was making photographs in New Zealand during the 1880s despite being deceased. Auckland Art Gallery's collection of New Zealand photographs by James Valentine can be seen here).
Postscript: as of March 2023, National Galleries Scotland have amended their attribution to Valentine & Sons.
