Long before today’s photographs, the Assayag travelled on postcards. Several bear the words “Photo Flandrin” — Marcelin Flandrin, a photographer and publisher based in Casablanca — and a caption placing the building: “Avenue Poeymirau”, “Angle de la rue de l’Horloge et avenue Poeymirau”.
Jean-Louis Cohen and Monique Eleb publish another card, from around 1932, taken at the corner of avenue de la Marine and rue de l’Horloge: on the left the Assayag, on the right the Charbon et Lévy building. The duplexes of the crown look out over the port and the zellige-covered domes nearby. Depending on the caption, then, the avenue along the building bears two names, probably successive — “de la Marine” and “Poeymirau”; which came first remains to be established.
They show the building on its corner, its setbacks and towers, the avenue lined with palm trees, the cars and the passers-by; some cards are black and white or sepia, one is hand-coloured, and others show the district from above.
Old photographs of the building and its streets are gathered in another album: “Old photographs”.
Old postcards gathered online; the publisher is named where it appears on the card (Photo Flandrin). Several reproductions come from listings published on delcampe.net.
