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July 1938. "Man who lives in row house. Baltimore, Maryland." Walkies, anyone? Photo by John Vachon for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
With the varying bits of trim, they definitely look like wooden construction. The notches would provide drainage.
I thought the same thing regarding the steps until I realized that they follow the incline of the sidewalk, hard to do with pre-fab. I think they are wooden.
For all you construction aficionados, these steps appear to be pre-fab concrete. The notches on the base are slotted so they can be moved into place via a fork lift. Didn't realize they were available back in '38.
Two and 1/4 full bricks to the left of the door there's a vertical line showing a change of tone that looks like poor photoshopping. Is that actually the color of the wall or was the photo manipulated somehow?
[As a previous commenter has already pointed out, those aren't real bricks. - tterrace]
In the 1950s and 1960s, many old Baltimore row houses that were built with soft, porous brick were covered with formstone, a fake stone/stucco product. Before formstone, the soft brick often was painted to protect it from moisture seepage. What appear to be bricks set in mortar in the picture actually is a brick wall painted in a dark color (usually dark maroon) that then was painted with a white stencil to give the appearance of bricks. The telltale signs are the thin, perfect white "mortar" lines and the slight change in coloration at the point where the house in the picture joins the house next door. Although there were lots of similarly painted houses when I was growing up in the 1960s, I have not seen one in many years.
We acquired a ratter this summer as a rescue dog (30 lbs. overweight!) He's down to fighting trim again (22lbs.) - a little stockier than this chap, we were told he's a type of rat terrier know as a Teddy Roosevelt, somewhat akin to a Jack Russell with an off switch.
If the dog could do it... I'm just sayin'.
No one seeing this gentleman's abdominal development could doubt Baltimore's former pre-eminence in the brewing industry.
Obviously a much loved pooch. Bet they had a wonderful life together. A pet can make life so much better.
I love rat terriers, they are surprisingly lazy dogs for their trim size and would suit this guy perfectly as they love nothing more than to sit next to you and sleep. I so want that harness for my dog.
Not so much here.
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