1905 Hotel de l'Univers Tours France Vintage Postcard

About This Vintage Postcard

This view captures the grand facade of the Hôtel de l'Univers in Tours, France, a legendary establishment that has hosted royalty and luminaries since the mid-19th century. Located in the heart of the Loire Valley, the hotel is a prime example of the stately urban architecture that defined the city during its golden age of travel. The street scene shows pedestrians in period dress and a glimpse of the ground-floor "confections" and tailoring shops that once occupied the building's elegant stone arches, offering a vivid look at French city life during the Belle Époque.

Details

Era: Divided Back (1905-1910)
City: Tours
State or Region: Indre-et-Loire
Country: France
Topic: Historic Hotels, French Architecture, Loire Valley Tourism, Street Scenes
Condition: Uncirculated
Postage: Unposted; no postmark or stamp
Address Side: divided back
Orientation: Horizontal (Landscape)
Artist / Photographer: A.P.
Publisher: A. Papeghin (A.P.), Tours
Printer: A. Papeghin
Print Type: Collotype on green buff

Additional Information

This card was published by A. Papeghin, a prominent local editor in Tours, identified by the A.P. initials on the front and the full name "A. Papeghin, Edit., Tours" on the back's vertical divider. This firm was highly active in documenting the Indre-et-Loire region during the peak postcard era. The divided back format and the specific sans-serif typography of the Carte Postale header are characteristic of French cards from the mid-to-late 1900s. This card is numbered 1 in the publisher's series, likely making it one of the premier views in his collection of the city.

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