A young woman from Staten Island’s Curtis High School is seated for a portrait before a dining room fireplace in C.R. Tucker’s New Dorp home. The photograph was taken as promotional material for an unknown school production, with the student wearing a costume from the play. Balancing this composition is a framed photograph by Tucker, which hangs on the wall at right background.

The home itself, which served as the backdrop to this photo and many other exterior views featuring the photographer’s daughter Dorothy, was a revolutionary structure built entirely of concrete ca. 1904-05. Its designer was the important American architect Robert Waterman Gardner, who pioneered using reinforced concrete in residential construction. The Tuckers were the second owners of the home after purchasing it with the aid of a mortgage in 1906.

Charles Rollins Tucker, 1868-1956.

See our in-depth blog posts with links below: Revealed: C.R. Tucker: Restless Wanderer with a Camera, & Rescued: Dorothy Tucker: For the Love of a Daughter, to learn more.