1. BRADLEY & RULOFSON. Palace Hotel Interior, San Francisco, CA , 1865. 9 x 7" albumen print on 11 x 9.3" paper. Printed 1865. Studio emblem printed on mount verso.

2. BRADLEY & RULOFSON. Palace Hotel, 1870-80s. 7 x 8.3" albumen print on 9.5 x 11" paper. Printed 1884-85. Studio emblem printed on mount verso.

3. RADLEY & RULOFSON. Palace Hotel, 1870-80s. 7 x 8.3" albumen print on 9.5 x 11" paper. Printed 1884-85. Studio emblem printed on mount verso.

4. BRADLEY & RULOFSON. Cliff House and Seal Rocks, 1865. 7.1 x 5" albumen print on 13.5 x 10.5" paper. Printed 1865.

A leading San Francisco photographic studio that gained national recognition during the 1870s, the Bradley & Rulofson studio is also known for publishing Eadweard Muybridge's photographic views of Yosemite Valley and other California landscape scenes. Henry W. Bradley (1813- 1891) and William H. Rulofson (1826-1878) joined forces in 1863, buying out the portrait gallery of daguerreotypist Robert Vance to establish the photographic art gallery of Bradley & Rulofson. The duo worked well together; Rulofson completed the managerial operations, and Bradley the curatorial tasks. Bradley & Rulofson bragged about their gallery facilities and advertised to the public their "magnificent Reception Room, Toilet Room, Sitting Room" and "Largest Sky Light in America." The firm could also boast associations with photographers Isaiah Taber, and later Eadweard Muybridge, who left Thomas Houseworth & Company, at the time of their decline, to publish some Pacific Coast views with Bradley & Rulofson.

The original Palace Hotel (1875-1906) was built by San Francisco banker and entrepreneur William Chapman Ralston, who heavily depended on his shaky banking empire to help finance the $5 million project. Although Ralston's Bank of California collapsed in late August 1875, and Ralston himself drowned in San Francisco Bay on the same day that he lost control of the institution, it did not interfere with the opening of the Palace Hotel two months later on October 2, 1875. With 755 guest rooms, the original Palace Hotel (also known colloquially as the "Bonanza Inn") was at the time of its construction the largest hotel in the Western United States. At 120 feet (37 m) in height, the hotel was San Francisco's tallest building for over a decade.

Although the hotel survived the initial damage from the early morning April 18, 1906, San Francisco earthquake, by late that afternoon it had been consumed by the subsequent fires. Notably, tenor Enrico Caruso (who had sung the role of Don Jose in Carmen the night before) was staying in the hotel at the time of the quake and swore never to return to the city. The urban legend is Caruso, "stood in his nightshirt holding a personally autographed photograph of President Theodore Roosevelt and demanded special treatment."

Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_Hotel,_San_Francisco

The Cliff House is a neo-classical style building perched on the headland above the cliffs just north of Ocean Beach, in the Outer Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building overlooks the site of the Sutro Baths ruins, Seal Rocks, and is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, operated by the National Park Service. For most of the Cliff House's history, since 1863, the building's main draw has been restaurants and bars where patrons could enjoy the Pacific Ocean views.

Dozens of ships have run aground on the southern shore of the Golden Gate below the Cliff House

The history of the Cliff House is pretty straightforward, and quite melodramatic. Originally built in 1863, it was enlarged in 1868, blown up in 1887, burned down in 1894, rebuilt in 1896, burned again in 1907, and rebuilt one more time in 1908. Seems straight­forward enough, but not included in this brief timeline are the numerous remodelings the buildings underwent during their precipitous years hanging off the cliff face.

1. Very Good/Excellent. Minor scratches on print surface

2. Excellent

3. Excellent

4. Excellent