WILLOW STREET, NOS. 131-137
Nos. 1-3-5-7-9 Poplar Street
MAY 14, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 126

WILLOW STREET, NO. 113
MAY 14, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 122

WILLOW STREET, NO. 104
Between Clark and Pierpont Streets
MAY 14, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 121

On one block of Willow Street, Abbott made three photographs of wood frame houses built circa 1840, which were interspersed among post-Civil War brick houses and 1920s apartment buildings. Contrary to her usual practice, Abbott gave no indication of the neighborhood's changing character.

Abbott's photographs of 104 and 113 Willow Street form a pair: she stood in front of no.104 to photograph no. 113, and looked through the cast-iron porch of no. 113 (a post-Civil War addition) to photograph no. 104. She deliberately included the out-of-focus grillwork for decorative effect and to mask the dull facade next door. Describing the composition, Abbott emphasized that she "could easily have stood in front of the grill or had it in focus" but instead "chose to have it the way it was." (O'Neal, 154).

In 1956, nos 131-137 Willow Street were demolished for an apartment building. Nos. 104 and 113 remain intact; the former has been carefully restored, and the latter has been shoddily shingled.

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