Outdoor view of a grand hotel. Unmounted albumen stereoview. [California?]: N.p., late 19th-early 20th century. 

An attractive stereoview of an exquisite grand hotel, possibly the Hotel del Monte in Monterey, California. The photographer, situated on a lush approach, captures the large hotel emerging from the trees, with gabled towers and an arched colonnade. 

The Hotel del Monte was first opened in 1880 by Railroad baron Charles Crocker as a luxury destination for wealthy rail travelers from the East Coast. The original building burnt in 1887 but was quickly rebuilt. A second fire in 1924 led to another rebuild, this time in a Spanish Revival style. In 1919, American artist and developer of Morse Code, Samuel F.B. Morse, took over the property and expanded it into a vast resort with golf courses, polo grounds, and more. 

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards, Stereographs] [Western Americana, Western History, Western Expansion, Wild West]