View of the interior of the Adelaide Arcade, December 1885.

Albumen print photograph, 160 x 223 mm, with ‘Sweet, Adelaide’ in manuscript in negative at bottom edge left of centre; laid down on its original mount of thickish card, captioned ‘Arcade’ in red ink below the image; the tones are a little dark (to be expected) but the image contains a wealth of detail such as store-fronts and signage, and shopkeepers and patrons, among whom, half way down the arcade on the left, is almost certainly the building’s caretaker Francis Cluney in his distinctive top hat and smart white coat; the print is in fine condition, as is the mount.

The Adelaide Arcade was opened on 12 December 1885, and this view is one of several that Sweet took around this time of the building’s magnificent interior. The arcade had electric lighting – one of the first Adelaide buildings to do so.