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Washington, D.C., circa 1900. "Old warehouse, Water Street S.W." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
I'm pretty sure this is Water Street Northwest in Georgetown -- the street over which the Whitehurst Freeway runs -- not Southwest. I don't know of a hill like this in SW, but it matches perfectly with the Georgetown waterfront.
Is that a hay wagon being used to transport barrels? Is there some other specific name for that rather charming rolling structure?
This really does look more like a Civil War era photo than something using 1900 vintage equipment. High contrast, rapid sharpness falloff towards the edges.... And nothing post-Civil War in view, either: I do see a couple of wires of some sort up by the houses in the background, but they could be telegraph wires, not phone or power lines.
The one-story brick building in the left mid-ground might be a blacksmith shop. The clues are the sizeable central chimney with the rain cap, the small windows, and most of all the large water tub resting outside. This large tub is for shrinking red-hot iron tires onto wagon wheels.
(There's no doubt a smaller slack tub indoors, closer to the forge, for quenching small work.)
Small windows are preferred in a blacksmith shop because the work is best done in dim light that allows one to better judge the heat: dull red, bright red, etc.
All that's missing is "the spreading chestnut tree" !
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