Early 20th Century Photo of Mansion with American Flag - Ambassador's Residence?

This is an early 20th century photo of a mansion, with an American flag flying above it.  In the lower right corner there is a dog (looks suspiciously like a collie, but who knows), and there are trees and shrubbery around it.

Someone contacted me awhile back and had some good info about this building, but I have unfortunately lost  it.  The gist of it was that this was the old residence of the American Ambassador to Great Britain.

I can't date this precisely, but based on the mounting and type of photo (I believe it is gelatin silver), this is probably WWI era, give or take.

Comic Postcard - Boarding House Table Manners

 

I like postcards for lots of reasons - sometimes they provide views of things that don't exist anymore, sometimes, especially in the case of comics, they're a little odd. 

 

This is a nice colorful comic postcard, postmarked in 1913 - the state is Florida, but I can't read the city - addressed to Miss Nellie Herford, Marshall, MO., in care of Ben Hur Stock Farms.  The men in the postcard are embossed.

 

This card shows what is probably a sleazy character trying to get in good with whoever is top dog a a boarding house, with instructions on how to get a better selection of food.  Is it a comment on the human condition?  Probably not.  But for some reason I like it.

 

This looks like it may be part of a whole series of cards of this nature, but I don't know that for sure. 

 

 

 

 

Leona Belle Cook - Age 3

 

This is a antique photo (cropped from the original) of a little girl named Leona Belle Cook, aged 3.  The photographer information is only given as "Taylor".  We've seen other photos with "Taylor" in a similar style from Rochester, New York, so perhaps that is where this is from.  We found some information on a Leona Belle Cook by doing a simple google search.  Assuming it is the same person, she was born in August 1913, and died in November 2007 in Venice, Florida.  If those dates are correct, then this photo dates from 1916-17 or there abouts.  Based on the type of photo those dates seem about right.

 

We have another picture of Leona Cook when she is older, looking like in her late teens or early twenties, and she has something of a not quite but almost flapperish hair style. 

 

This is a nice photo, and with the mounting it is fairly large.  I like it because it has toys in it - she 's holding on to a wagon with a doll in it. It may have just been a photographer's prop, but it may also have been a favorite toy of a little girl.