We did not need to wait long to receive an answer to our question which place is depicted in this photo. Many thanks to Nigel Aspdin for sending a very detailed and helpful answer.
See below:

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Its not England for sure, (unless the photographer mucked up the image on printing!) as everyone is driving on the wrong side of the road, as indeed the Europeans still do. My immediate reaction to the photo did not concentrate on the matters Album1900 had chosen to zoom, but I selected two items. Firstly a facade at the top of the photo at the very end of the street. A railway terminus, I felt sure, with a huge arched glass front window in the gable. So I felt I must look at major European city rail termini, and I agreed with Album1900 it had the feel of a north European city. Secondly, the 4 metre tower on the pavement to the left, covered in advertising posters. (I wish I knew what these towers were for and what they are called. I wonder if they were sewer ventilation?). My immediate reaction to this was "Paris". The street certainly has the feel of Paris, the good order set out by Georges-Eugène Haussmann in the vast redevelopment of Paris. This view has all three elements of Haussman's plans for Paris, uniform building heights, grand boulevards, and anchoring elements (the station facade in this view). A quick look at the mainline stations showed Gare de L'Est as the most likley candidate:

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I believe the original camera position was looking north north east at the terminus facade,1,450metres away, north north east up Boulevard de Sebastopol and Boulevard de Strasbourg, and taken from the west side of Boulevard de Sebastopol, just south of Rue Greneta.
This is the Google Earth position:

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The large and high arched roof with cupola in the centre of the top block in the above picture is clearly visible in the old photograph. Below is a Google Streetview photo looking north north east, taken approximately where the original photo was taken, and the tower with advertising posters., still there !

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And moving up Boulevard de Sebastopol a few metres the building on the right can be matched with the old photo corner building that had a corner awning.

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Swinging round to the right, and looking up in Google Streetview, evidence of the particular second floor window detail can be matched with the original photo as follows:

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