Antique & Vintage Postcards

Bathed in dramatic floodlighting against a pitch-black sky, Mexico City's Palacio de Correos — the Central Post Office — glows like a stage set in this striking real photo postcard by photographer López, whose white-ink credit appears in the lower right corner. The Churrigueresque-meets-Venetian-Gothic building, designed by Italian architect Adamo Boari and completed in 1907, is shown here in a masterfully composed night photograph that emphasizes the filigree stonework, ornate clock tower, arched windows, and elaborate cornice against the darkness, a technically demanding shot for the era. This is an unused example on a plain Tarjeta Postal stock with a "Sello" stamp box — never mailed, never written — preserved in near-pristine condition, making it an exceptional photographic document of pre-war Mexico City nocturnal life.