Abraham Solomon Levinski (fl.1865-1872)
Before his arrival on the West Coast in 1866, Abraham
Levinski had run a barber’s shop and photographic studio in George Street,
Dunedin. The combination obviously suited him, and in Greymouth he repeated the
arrangement, establishing a haircutting saloon in Boundary Street in July 1866,
followed soon after by a portrait gallery – the London Portrait Rooms - in the
same premises.
Levinski had probably not bargained on much in the way of
rivalry, so it no doubt came as an unpleasant surprise when fellow photographer
John Low opened a studio at Shannon’s Bookshop on Mawhera Quay at much the same
time. After several months of competition, Levinski dealt with the challenge by
letting his rooms to Low, and moving his operations to Greymouth’s thriving
neighbour, Charleston, in February 1868.
If the plan was to allow Low to exhaust himself, and the
local market, it appeared to work. In June 1868 Low announced he was leaving,
and Levinski resumed occupation of his former premises. Low was back in
Greymouth by December 1868, but now billed himself as “of Greymouth &
Onehunga”, dividing his time between the two centres and, intentionally or not,
ensuring Levinski the lion’s share of the local trade.
In the meantime Levinski was busy establishing himself
both socially and professionally. He was
a founder member of the town’s Ancient Order of Foresters, he participated in
local athletics, gave his support to electoral candidates, sold photographs of
the Greymouth floods, and promised to submit portraits of the Greymouth
Handicap’s winning horse and jockey to the Illustrated
Melbourne Post and Illustrated London
News.
In August 1869 Levinski completed costly alterations to
his studio. Aiming to increase his patronage and recoup his investment, he
substantially reduced his prices, but a series of court judgements against him
forced him to put his studio up for auction in early April 1870. The timing was
unfortunate; in the early hours of 19 April 1870 Boundary Street was engulfed
by flames, and in an attempt to arrest its advance Levinski’s shop was
demolished to create a firebreak. With no means of realising any capital,
Levinski was imprisoned for debt, and released only on the guarantee of tobacco
merchant Jacob Basch.
Greymouth
as it appeared in 1875. Fire was an ever present danger in colonial New
Zealand, as most buildings were constructed of wood. The inquest into the 1870
conflagration that led to the destruction of Abraham Levinski’s studio failed
to uncover the source of the blaze, but the implication was that it was caused
by coals falling from an open fireplace. Rebuilding began within days. (Sir
George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries. NZ Map 6537)
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