Shakespeare Photographic Gallery^[1]

• Name	Shakespeare Photographic Gallery
  	VARIANT NAME: Gallery Next Door to Theatre Photographic Gallery.
  Gender	Unknown
  Business Address/Year	1869-1875?	Victoria, BC
  	Address: Government St. (west side near View St.) next door to Theatre Photographic Gallery Victoria, BC Canada
  	Uren and Hoyt briefly owned the Shakespeare Photographic Gallery in 1874 before Shakespeare re-acquired ownership the same year.
  Association	Shakespeare, Noah (Relationship: Proprietor)
  Association	Gentile's Photographic Gallery (Relationship: Predecessor)
  Association	Uren and Hoyt (Relationship: Successor)
  Association	Uren and Hoyt (Relationship: Predecessor)
  Person ID	I2291	Camera Workers | S, vol. 1, 1858-1900
  Last Modified	25 Jun 2025

  
  

• Photos

  Victoria Theatre Photographic Gallery, Government Street, ca. 1868-1869. West side of Government Street looking north from Fort Street, Victoria. The Theatre Photographic Gallery is the two-story, wooden building with the triangular pediment in the centre. Photographed by Frederick Dally. Courtesy of BC Archives, Item A-03021; this version is from Dally album 3, p. 10 (slightly cropped). The Gallery Next Door is on the south side adjoining the Theatre Photographic Gallery. The Gallery Next Door was owned successively by Carlo Gentile, George Robinson, Noah Shakespeare, Uren and Hoyt, and Shakespeare again.

  
  

  Documents » Slide Show		Noah Shakespeare's news, Daily Colonist, 23 Oct 1874, p. 3. Announcing that he has hired R.A. Desmond from Spencer's Gallery. The ad implies he was once more the owner of the Shakespeare Photographic Gallery following its brief tenure as Uren and Hoyt. This notice first appeared on 16 Oct 1874, p. 3.
  		Shakespeare Photographic Gallery ad, First Victoria Directory, Third Issue, and British Columbia Guide (Mallandaine, Jun 1869), p. 80.
  		Noah Shakespeare's ad, First Victoria Directory, Second Issue, and British Columbia Guide (Mallandaine, Apr 1868), back cover. This ad appeared on the bottom of the back cover; Frederick Dally's ad was on the top of the back cover. The two ads were separated by a third ad.
  		Uren and Hoyt news item, Victoria Daily Colonist, 30 Apr 1874, p. 3. Announcing their purchase of Noah Shakespeare's gallery.
  		Noah Shakespeare's ad, Victoria Daily Standard, 20 Aug 1870, p. 2. Announcing that he has improved the studio's lighting. The mention of a "large selection of Indian portraits" likely refers to the work of his predecessor, Carlo Gentile.
  		Noah Shakespeare's letter to the editor, Victoria Colonist, 4 Nov 1869, p. 3. Shakespeare objects to the supposition that the "licentious photograph" was produced in his studio. J.A. Craigg's letter on the same matter appeared in the same paper.
  		"Licentious Photograph" news, Victoria Colonist, 3 Nov 1869, p. 3. Both J.A. Craigg and Noah Shakespeare wrote letters to the editor, published on 4 Nov 1869, in which they assumed this news item had been aimed at their studio.
  		Noah Shakespeare ID, verso of a carte-de-visite.

  
  

• Notes

  STATUS: Studio. BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Originally known as Gentile's Photographic Gallery which Noah Shakespeare was hired to manage, likely in Aug 1866 when Gentile announced the arrangement. By 1869 Shakespeare had likely acquired the studio from Gentile or his agent, Thomas Allsop, as he advertised the business as his own in the 1869 Victoria directory. Uren and Hoyt briefly owned the studio in 1874 before Shakespeare re-acquired it. He likely closed the studio following his purchase of the Theatre Photographic Gallery from S.A. Spencer in May 1875.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3] David Mattison, Mattison (1980 Winter), (British Columbia Historical News).