The Crown Studio was a Sydney-based firm situated on the corner of Market and George streets. Established by Mark Blow in the early 1890s, it was the largest photographic company in Sydney over the decade. In 1893-4, a time of severe economic depression, Crown Studios was averaging fifty-five portrait sitters per day. The studio employed between fifty-eight and eighty-two operators, assistants and artists and specialised in producing framed enlargements of portraits advertised as 'the very best adornment for the walls of our homes'. Crown Studios serviced both city and country clients, and were noted for their mail-order services. An advertisement from the Town and Country Journal, November 26, 1892 states that 'the patrons of the firm are not only to be found in New South Wales, but in adjoining provinces. The pictures have therefore to be carefully packed, and so well is this done that it is a rare thing for the firm to receive any complaints as to the condition of the picture when it arrives at its destination even though a large number of them have to be conveyed by coach or bullock team.'
