That’s a Mercedes, but what’s the venue?

We’ve seen a Mercedes-themed picture by Anglo-Hungarian photographer Zoltán Glass before, here on PreWarCar.com. It seems that Glass was not averse to a bit of commercial work as the picture shown here is believed to be from a series of advertisements made in the early 1930s.

Mercedes-Benz Type 170

For Mercedes-Benz we reckon, as the car is pretty much the centre of attention and looks as if it has just left the factory in its shiny black paint. It’s a Type 170 with the 1.7-litre six-in-line engine and fully independent suspension. Launch: October 1931. It looks to be late autumn or winter in this picture.

One source mentions it was taken in the UK while another writes that Germany was the setting for it. We really don’t know but wonder if any of you recognise the backdrop. That’s quite a prominent building at number 14. Romanesque Revival style? Oh, and has anyone ever seen the actual advertisement?

Words by Jeroen Booij. Picture Science & Society Picture Library.

Gepubliceerd:

woensdag december 15th, 2021

Hergen Deuter

17 December 2021, 09:47

First of all sorry for naming you wrongly Michael. As for Jeroen's question, I suspect that these photos were not taken for brochures or flyers, but were sent to newspapers as press photos by Mercedes-Benz corporate communications. Hence their snapshot character.

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Hergen Deuter

16 December 2021, 16:35

I agree with Martin that this is German Jugendstil. If you look at further pictures of this photo series by Zoltan Glass, you may notice that the Mercedes 170 had the Berlin registration IA 3838, the city where he lived at that time and where Mercedes-Benz had production facilities as well. There are also photos with Bauhaus architecture as a backdrop, perhaps Berlin-Siemensstadt. So I suspect this suburban residence was located on the outskirts of Berlin. By the way, the spare wheel cover is labeled in German: DER NEUE MERCEDES-BENZ TYP 170 (...?).

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Michael Schlenger

16 December 2021, 01:21

While I am unable to tell exactly where this photo was taken, I'd rule out the UK, at any rate. The style of the building in the background is typical for the German "Jugendstil" (comparable to - but not identical with - the "Art Nouveau" style in France the "Liberty" style in Italy as well as the Austrian and Czech variants of this immensely diverse style) which flourished between 1900 and 1914. The material used as well as the artistic excecution remind me of examples from Darmstadt and my hometown Bad Nauheim (both situated in the Hesse region). But I would't compeletely rule out another German centre of this important (and to me outstanding ) architectural style. I've attached a photo showing my well-patinated Peugeot 202 in a setting featuring typical elements of the German "Jugendstil" in Bad Nauheim.

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That’s a Mercedes, but what’s the venue?

Mercedes-Benz Type 170

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