Duckett & Adler were professional (or "mercantile") photographers, and they were located here in 60 Grand St. from around 1900 to 1922.

Richard Duckett (1859 or 1860-?) was born in France and immigrated to the U. S. around 1875. He was recorded in the U. S. Census of 1880 living on Sullivan St. in Greenwich Village with his wife, Mary, and son, Adam. He also appeared in the U. S. Census of 1910, but here had a different wife, Matilda, married eleven years, with 3 children from his second marriage: Henrietta, Alma and Lillian, ages 9 to 3. A Richard Duckett was listed on the ship manifest of the SS Holland sailing from London and arriving at the port of New York 7 Aug. 1875. At that time he was 16 years old and was accompanied by his mother, Henrietta Duckett, age 49, and his sister, Mathilda, age 19.

Edward M. Adler (1871-1928) was a native New Yorker. He can be traced through three successive U. S. Census reports from 1900 to 1920. In 1920 he was 48 years old and lived at 884 Riverside Drive (near 160th St.), Manhattan, with his wife, Suzanne.

Duckett was in business in New York as a photographer from around 1881, while Adler appeared somewhat later. Their partnership ran from around 1900 to 1914, first at 347 West Broadway, then 60 Grand St. Around 1914/15 Duckett seems to have dropped out of the partnership and to have gone into business by himself as Peerless Commercial Photographers Inc. (approx. 1915 to 1929). This business was located first on Broome St. (1915-1918), later Wooster St. (1920), then West Broadway (1922-1926), and finally W. 3rd St. (1927-1929).

According to the timeline at ICP's website museum.icp.org the wellknown newspaper and documentary photographer Weegee (aka Arthur Fellig) found a job at Ducket & Adler in 1918, where he did a "variety of studio and darkroom tasks."

The Duckett & Adler sign was destroyed late 2008 when painted over by a new advertisement. Earlier (July) the wall had already been mutilated by lipsticks for Diane Furstenberg (click for image).

Copyright © 2002 Walter Grutchfield