Spar

For many years either side of 1900 this building was occupied by Wilkie’s Photography Studio. Wilkies took formal studio portraits here and also photographs of landscapes and local events. The image of Cade’s mineral water company in the window next to The Glass Curtain shows an RIC officer looking in the window of this very shop, clearly enjoying the photographs on display inside! An ad from The Cork Examiner in 1926 proclaims “Wilkie and Son … photos copied and enlarged, amateur’s work done, wedding groups a speciality.”

Wilkies had two shops on King Street, now McCurtain Street. This photography studio was known as ‘Noah’s Ark’. Up the street at number 41 Wilkies ran a stationary shop, which was known as ‘The Black Dog’ – a sign showing the black dog can be seen in the large photograph on display in the window of Nell’s.

‘The Black Dog’ sold a range of stationary items and various adverts appear in The Cork Examiner describing their wares. In 1895 we are told “Pretty young women purchase their papers and magazines at the hive of industry ‘The Black Dog’ (Wilkie’s), King Street, sole agent of Broome’s music.” An ad just before Christmas in 1987 advertises annuals and the ‘largest and prettiest’ selection of cards, available at both ‘The Black Dog’ and ‘Noah’s Ark’.

By the 1920s, the Wilkies ran all their lines of business from no 48A, this shop. This included not only photography and stationery, but also producing rubber stamps ‘made to any design or size, pads, inks, daters, self-inkers, stencil plates, seals etc.’ The business appears to have closed down in XX but with their lively signs and interesting wares, Wilkies were a staple of business life of the street for many years.