MYSTERY: Reader sent this week’s tough photo to ID

A reader sent us this photo of a building somewhere in the Lowcountry that has an interesting former life.  We’ve retouched it a little to make it tougher to figure out.  What and where is it? Send to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.  And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our previous Mystery Photo

Our Sept. 21 photo, “Dog day afternoon,” was pretty easy for longtime Charlestonians.  It showed the (fake) Dalmatian outside the oldest fire station in downtown Charleston at the corner of Wentworth and Meeting streets.

Congratulations to these sleuths who correctly identified the photo: Cheryll Woods-Flowers and Chris Brooks, both of Mount Pleasant; Jim McMahan, Joe Mendelsohn and Carol Fishman, all of Charleston; Bill Segars and Don Clark, both of Hartsville; Jay Altman of Columbia; Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.; Archie Burkel of James Island; Larry Cannon; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; and Jane Bergen, a Charleston native who now lives in Arlington, Va.

Segars offered this info: “It was one of three stations designed by Daniel G. Wayne and built by Colin M. Grant in 1888 in response to the loss of several fire stations in Charleston as a result of the Earthquake of 1886.”

Huger added that at one time, “it was considered the most important station in the city due to its central location.  It housed 4 steam enhance companies.  The bays for Station 2 and 3 face Meeting Street, and the 2 bays facing Wentworth Street house antique apparatus.”

Peel shared, “The statue of the Dalmatian guarding (or is it sleeping?) at the front of the firehouse in the mystery photo is a reminder of why most firehouses at the time had a Dalmatian on site. These firehouses were originally equipped with horse-drawn fire engines, and so it became common for each group of firefighters to keep a Dalmatian in the firehouse to guard the firehouse and the horses. Dalmatians were chosen as firehouse dogs because of their natural affinity to and compatibility with horses. When the alarm came in, the Dalmatian led the way for the horse-drawn pumper. The dogs would run alongside the horses keeping them calm in the presence of fire, and use their keen sense of smell to get to the scene as quickly as possible.  In this way, the Dalmatian became the firefighters’ companion and a symbol of the fire service. Today, Dalmatians are still found in many firehouses in England, Canada and the United States.”

• Send us a mystery:  If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!)   Send it along to  editor@charlestoncurrents.com.