Outlook Tower - Biological Room, c 1985

This is the entrance to the Camera Obscura on the fifth floor of the Outlook Tower. This roof-top pavilion was constructed in 1850 to the design of Maria Thérèsa Short (fl. 1827-1869) to house her Victorian optical instrument, and was originally called "Short's Observatory." After her death in 1869, her husband continued to run the attraction until Geddes bought the whole building in 1892 and changed its name to "The Outlook Tower". The "Biological Room" appears to have been formed by covering the roof-top terrace with a temporary cover to protect the plants, of which some are shown here. Handwritten title on the original envelope containing the corresponding glass plate negatives was written by Mabel Barker.