How To Find Old Photos Of My House

Finding an old photo of your house online is a great manner to connect with the history of your house. You tin can detect who lived in your house using old census records, but seeing the business firm or street y'all live in now every bit it was 50 or 100 years ago can exist a existent joy.

Of class, some streets and houses are more photogenic than others, and some areas will have been more advisedly documented than others. Streets may have been surveyed by the local council, or snapped by professional photographers, or be depicted in postcards preserved at a local-history library.

For more recent photos of your house, you tin step back in time using old photos on Google Street View. Simply click on the clock underneath the address and see images going dorsum to 2008.

Nosotros've too listed some websites where you tin search for old aerial photographs of your house, which fifty-fifty if they don't show your specific street will reveal how the wider landscape has inverse, for case, Historic England has recently added more than 400,000 historic aerial photographs of England to its drove (see below).

Francis Frith

Although this website is focused on selling you lot prints, it is nevertheless an fantabulous place to browse vintage, retro and nostalgic black-and-white photographs of areas across the UK. More than are added every month – in February 2022 alone i,098 photos were uploaded depicting 432 places. The site is also quick and responsive, and in that location are diverse new features since it last appeared in this column, including the ability to send free electronic postcards to friends. Yous can besides share memories and stories relating to specific images – more than 82,600 have been added to date. There'southward no postcode search, so just type in the name of a boondocks or area to go started.

Britain From Above

This website is based around a drove of 95,000 aerial photographs, the bulk of which were taken by the company Aerofilms Ltd between 1919 and 1953. It was the result of a four-twelvemonth project funded past the Heritage Lottery Fund to conserve and digitise the images. You lot tin can search by keyword, image reference or county, or by using the map which is arguably the best mode in. The site has been online for some time now and is showing its age in some respects, just remains a useful tool for family unit historians. Britain From Above is free to use, but you lot will have to create a user account in club to be able to zoom into the photographs.

Historic England

More than 400,000 historic photographs of England from the air are now complimentary to view online via the Aerial Photograph Explorer on Historic England. The photos encompass nearly 30 per cent of England and appointment from 1919 to the present. Nigh 300,000 of the images appointment from after 1967. This accompanies the England's Places collection which is a favourite of expert buildings historian Karen Averby.

Another Celebrated England collection is recommended past Karen Averby a buildings historian who co-hosts #HouseHistoryHour on Twitter:

"Ane of my favourite online sources of historic images for house history is Historic England's site England'southward Places, an enjoyably absorbing wholly digitised and searchable photographic collection. The images date from the 1850s to the 1990s and contain street scenes, village and townscapes, and outside and sometimes interior views of individual buildings. Often referred to as the 'Architectural Red Box Drove', the originals were, not unsurprisingly, stored in red boxes in Historic England's archive.

The collection originated in 1941 when the National Buildings Record began to document built heritage. Subsequent additions to the core of 1930s photographs include a variety of images from both commercial and amateur photographers, lending the collection a wonderfully eclectic air.

An especially endearing feature of this digitised version is its replication of the concrete experience of looking through the red boxes – equally far as is possible – which many may fondly call back doing in person at the Swindon searchroom. Only search by place proper noun, and most 'open' a box to browse a clickable gallery displaying cards with images affixed. Clicking on an image reveals the handwritten details on the reverse, such every bit building name, engagement and lensman. Happily, there are zoom and rotate options too.

Looking through the images one by one is a fascinating process, made all the more enjoyable if your business firm or street pops up. Even if the house you are researching is not included, the views of streets and buildings in the area you are looking at offer glimpses into the past, literally snapshots in time, thereby providing a wider visual context for your investigations."

Historypin

Historypin was starting time on the scene with the thought of superimposing old photos on Google Street View, attracting lots of publicity in the 2010s. It remains a diverting browse, although how useful it will exist for your research depends on how much cloth has been uploaded for the area y'all're interested in. Visitors tin can browse the photographs on the website, and if you sign up then you tin can upload and curate collections as well. WhatWasThere also allows you to explore historic images linked to Street View. It works well, and has all sorts of interesting stuff if y'all dig for information technology, but there are not nevertheless enough photos from the British Isles to arrive genuinely useful.

British Clan for Local History

This smart and spiffy website has all sorts of resources aimed at the association'southward members, and volition assistance yous rails downwardly local-heritage groups. Many of these will have online galleries, often featuring privately owned images of local streets and houses that yous tin can't find elsewhere. And if you visit a local-history website then always make sure that yous cheque out the links section. This is where you lot tend to find members' own websites, which in turn may accept all sorts of buried treasure, and are merely the kind of sites that won't turn up anywhere nigh the top of the results of a web search – no matter how good you are at using Google.

National Library of Republic of ireland

It's worth visiting the NLI's online catalogue to explore the kinds of images that survive, and run across how fun they can exist to research when they've been well catalogued, regardless of whether you have Irish roots or not. This is the finding help to all sorts of NLI content, including references to more than 150,000 photographs, of which about half accept been digitised. These embrace all sorts of subjects, from historic buildings to industry, events and disasters, famous people, civic celebrations and protests. But there are of course many hundreds of images that just show streets, houses and communities from across Ireland. You can narrow by timeline, creator, region or subject – and there are categories for both 'Houses' and 'Streets'.

Other websites that may include an old photograph of your business firm:

A Vision of Britain

Find out how your postcode has inverse since 1801 using Ordnance Survey maps.

Facebook

Local-history groups and libraries often post highlights to Facebook. Attempt searching for the name of an area together with 'local history'.

Flickr

Many museums, athenaeum and libraries still upload georeferenced images to Flickr.

Google Images

It'southward always worth searching Google Images, but you may exist swamped with manor agents' photos.

House History Hour

This is the website of the weekly Twitter event #HouseHistoryHour, which takes place on Thursdays at 7pm GMT.

Leodis – Leeds Photographic Archive

If your business firm is in Leeds, then you may find a photo of it hither.

London Motion picture Archive

Many athenaeum and libraries have their own dedicated image catalogues, such every bit this one from the London Metropolitan Archives. Type the name of a London street into the search box to notice historic photographs of your business firm.

Manchester Local Image Drove

Detect sometime photographs of Manchester in this collection of over 80,000 images including thousands of street views. Just blazon the proper noun of your street into the search box and hey presto! Prints tin can be purchased for £10

National Library of Wales

View digital versions of some of the library's photographic collection.

Street Directories

Directories tin can be invaluable for getting to grips with changing streets and house numbers. For Scottish properties try digital.nls.britain/directories.

The National Archives

Search 75,000 digitised examples from TNA's image library, including aeriform photographs.