London's Golden Age: Stunning photochrom images reveal the grand and glorious capital bustling with life in the 1890s when Britain was the biggest global power and really did rule the waves

UK Daily Mail ^ | February 26, 2021 | Harry Howard

[C19fan]

London's Piccadilly Circus has long been famed for the constant streams of cars, buses, cyclists and pedestrians which navigate it every day.

Now a stunning photochrom image shows how, even in the 19th century, the interchange was extremely busy - but was thronged with horses and carriages and smartly dressed men and women instead of what we see today.

The colour photo - produced using a method invented in the 1880s - is among a collection showing Victorian London in all its splendour which has been released by the US Library of Congress.

[C19fan]

Much prefer late Victorian London if you do not mind the horse poop. What violence was done to Cheapside blighted with soulless modern architecture.

[Bon of Babble]

Beautiful “before” photos.

And, London will change even more as demographics change further. I expect all those statues to be pulled down in the not too distant future.

London will be erased.

[rktman]

Any pics from today of bustling London? Lived there from ‘61-’63 as a (14-16 yrs old) service brat. MAN did we have a GOOD time! Damn! I do mean a GOOD time. LOL! I’d still be grounded.

[AzSteven]

Would have been nice if the Daily Mail team had bothered to even try to get photos from anywhere close to the same angle for some before and after comparisons.

[marktwain]

In London, in 1890, you could buy state of the art weapons. For cash. No permits required. You could pretty much carry a pistol concealed, as well.

Few people did. Crime was very low. Crime committed with guns was even lower.

[Flick Lives]

Much prefer late Victorian London if you do not mind the horse poop.

—

The number of horses in the street is amazing. I looked at the pictures and didn’t a single “horseless carriage”, although in 1890 those did look a lot like carriages, so it would be easy to miss. I also don’t see any electric street trolleys, at least in this set of pictures, although they were in operation in at least some places but the 1890’s.

[Jonty30]

Back then, culture meant something. I agree with you

[bk1000]

Wow, they really don’t want you to actually be able to see any part of their website except the ads and pop-ups, do they...

It might have been an interesting essay. Who knows?

[C19fan]

London did have the subway system later to be called The Underground.

[Mr. Blond]

But did they have curry and kebabs?

[Kommodor]

Ping for later viewing

[mewzilla]

Victorian London’s slums weren’t pleasant.

[Chickensoup]

use Ghostery for petes sake and stop complaining.

[Covenantor]

There are youtube videos of vintage films of London and NYC and some of Germany and Russia of that era with horse drawn carriages, freight wagons etc. and the streets are remarkable clear of horse apples. Seems they had these people called street sweepers that worked through out the day actually using brooms instead of merely leaning on them. Noticable is the total absence of paper debris.

And yes there were slums...the poor have always been with us and ever will be.

[Covenantor]

Neither were the NYC tenement slums of that era...or for that matter any public financed housing of the entire 20th century...Cabrini Green, any NYC housing project...pick a major city, any major city.
;>)

[Big Red Badger]

I’ve been Watching;
“Gangs of New York”
Lately,,,
Brutal times for sure.
.
Leonardo gets his butt
Whipped in a Nasty Way.

[tet68]

My grandmother told me many times of when she was a little
girl and she and her father would go out and collect
horse droppings of the street to put on their backyard
garden. Picking up golden apples she called it. Turn of the
last century.

[Covenantor]

My grandmother told me many times of when she was a little girl and she and her father would go out and collect horse droppings of the street to put on their backyard garden. Picking up golden apples she called it.

Turn of the last century.

...on NYC's Upper West Side horses could be rented at the Claremont stables, just off Central Park West for rides through Central Park. There was a local 50-60ish couple dressed in matching purple tie dyed tee shirts that would follow the horse passage to the park to gather "golden apples". Dead Heads no doubt looking to feed their mari-hootchie plants. This was in the 1980's.