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[pauljeremiah]

Found this while randomly browsing YouTube.

Includes amazing old footage, plus modern shots of the same location today. Also, features maps carefully researched to show where the camera was.

This collection of footage was taken between 1890 and 1920 and shows various places around London, all identifiable by location on a map.

In order they are:

WESTMINSTER:

1. Parliament square, looking across at Big Ben
2. Westminster Abbey
3. Westminster Abbey from Tothill Street
4. Houses of Parliament from the South Bank
5. Houses of Parliament from across the Thames River
6. Big Ben from Westminster Bridge
7. Flipbook animation of the south side of Westminster Bridge
8. Downing Street, home of the Prime Minister
9. No 10 Downing Street door

EMBANKMENT

10. Victoria Embankment
11. Cleopatra's Needle
12. Egyptian Lions at Cleopatra's Needle
13. Blackfriars Bridge

ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

14. St Paul's Cathedral from the South Bank
15. St Paul's Cathedral from across the Thames River
16. St Paul's Cathedral from the tower of St Mary Le Bow Church

TOWER BRIDGE & TOWER OF LONDON

17. Tower of London viewed through Tower Bridge
18. Tower Bridge looking south from the parapet
19. Tower Bridge closing after allowing a boat to pass
20. Looking south along the length of Tower Bridge
21. Panorama of the Tower of London from Tower Bridge
22. South side of the Tower of London
23. Tommies marching in the moat

THE CITY

24. Monument to the Great Fire of 1666
25. Pan up the Monument
26. The Bank of England
27. The Bank of England from Cheapside
28. St Mary Le Bow tower from Cheapside

FLEET ST & THE STRAND

29. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub
30. Temple Bar Memorial
31. The Royal Courts of Justice

THE WEST END

32. The Empire Theatre, Leicester Square
33. Piccadilly Circus

CHARING CROSS & TRAFALGAR SQUARE

34. Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross Station
35. Panorama of Trafalgar Square
36. Admiralty Arch
37. Nelson's Column

ST JAMES & BUCKINGHAM PALACE

38. Crimean War Memorial
39. St James's Palace
40. Band at St James's Palace
41. Buckingham Palace
42. Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace

HYDE PARK

43. Hyde Park Corner
44. Hyde Park Corner traffic
45. Hyde Park

TRAFALGAR SQUARE

46. Oldest footage of London - Trafalgar Square (1890)

 

[zeemumu]

That's awesome.

 

[D23]

I love this

 

[torre_avenue]

Really, then explain this then:

But, that's a cool video, thanks for sharing.

 

[FinKL]

Great find! Thanks for this. This footage and last year's New York in the 1990s are blast from the pasts

 

[CoffeeExpress]

I love these old videos, seeing people going to their day to day routine a hundred years ago..

Berlin in 1945, just as the war has finished is amazing also

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Really, then explain this then:


But, that's a cool video, thanks for sharing.

Duh, that's not London.

 

[Falchion]

All those people were so dressed up!

Spoiler

So glad it's not like that anymore.

 

[Kremzeek]

Oh wow this is great! Life goes on....

 

[daviyoung]

ullo guvernors!

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Pretty cool.

 

[Toa TAK]

Incredible video, OP. Thanks for sharing this.

Just don't read the comments.

 

[danowat]

All those people were so dressed up!

Spoiler

So glad it's not like that anymore.

It hasn't been that long since that stopped, I can remember my grandad wearing a suit and tie most days, unless he was working in the garden.

But yeah, cool video.

 

[autumnleaf]

Incredible video, OP. Thanks for sharing this.

Just don't read the comments.

I was thinking what negative things could anyone possibly say about a video like this....then I checked. Of course.

 

[danowat]

I was thinking what negative things could anyone possibly say about a video like this....then I checked. Of course.

You can play spot the UKIP voter.

 

[fanboi]

When I see these videos I always think 'everyone I see are now dead'.

 

[The Albatross]

Great video, thanks for sharing. I love how it shows the contemporary clip, the archived footage, and also gives the perspective of what it's looking at.

I'm a sucker for any "Then and now" and historical footage of places that I know well. I love this 1860 Aerial photo of Boston, taken from a balloon over the city. Sadly, virtually everything in the photo would be destroyed by a fire 20 years later.

 

[shandy706]

I love that the Cheese Shop is still in the same place 100 years later.

 

[plainr_]

Amazing. The camera angles in the comparison shots are on fucking point.

 

[pauljeremiah]

London is my favourite city to visit. One of the things I love to do is just walk the city. When I was there with my sister and Austrailian fianceé in July 2015. I took them on a walking tour of Westminister, we were staying in a Hotel just off Marble Arch.

So we started at Marble Arch and headed down Oxford Street to Oxford Circus then down Regent Street to Picadilly Circus then walk through to Leicester Square. Then down Irving Street where we stopped for some drinks, all the way around Charing Cross road into Trafalgar Square.

From there we walked down Whitehall as far a Westminister Bridge, then back up to Trafalgar and headed down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, then across Green Park to The Ritz and then down Picadilly to the Wellington Monument and Number One London. Then up Park Lane back to the hotel.

It's a really lovely walk for anyone who is visiting London and I think the best way to see the city is on foot.

 

[hobblygobbly]

Really cool, thanks for sharing

Here's a colour video of Berlin in July 1945 (i.e after surrender). I showed this to my grandfather a while back (he was a young man in Germany during 30s/WW2, my family were communists and socialists). He was in Berlin in July 1945 as well, same time as this video. Brought back a lot of memories for him.

 

[butzopower]

I love that the Cheese Shop is still in the same place 100 years later.

It's been there since at least 1666.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Great video.

I love looking at old videos of London (my city).

Has anybody got old videos of the London Underground?

 

[jett]

Lookit all dem horses.

Streets back then must've reeked of shit.

 

[pauljeremiah]

Great video.

I love looking at old videos of London (my city).

Has anybody got old videos of the London Underground?

not totally sure if there is, there is a PBS documentary on Netflix about the history of the underground.

The only "fun fact" I know about the underground is that most of the people who went to the last public execution in Britain went by the underground. the last public execution in Britain was in 1868 just outside Newgate Prison.

 

[The Pope]

Cant believe my gran walked these streets in the early 1920's and is still alive .

 

[pauljeremiah]

Great video.

I love looking at old videos of London (my city).

Has anybody got old videos of the London Underground?

Actually found two things for you:

Secrets Of The Underground

&

The Unfinished Northern Line

 

[Mohonky]

Lookit all dem horses.

Streets back then must've reeked of shit.

You'd get used to it I imagine. Not to mention people in general probsbly wouldnt have bathed anywhere near as often.

 

[SolidusDave]

Could also be CGI

Spoiler

(of London post-brexit)

But seriously, that's a pretty cool find. Video footage of such "ancient" times feels so surreal.
Now imagine someone like 500 years in the future watching this/our stuff, all digitally preserved, never fading.

 

[Ark]

Really cool, thanks for sharing

Here's a colour video of Berlin in July 1945 (i.e after surrender). I showed this to my grandfather a while back (he was a young man in Germany during 30s/WW2, my family were communists and socialists). He was in Berlin in July 1945 as well, same time as this video. Brought back a lot of memories for him.

Woah, this was amazing.

 

[Tom Nook]

Nice.

 

[Stencil]

That old footage is pretty cool.

I thought I'd enjoy seeing the side by side comparisons, but, they're all just the same thing in color.

 

[The Elite]

Watched a bit now and will check out the rest later. Love old footage.

 

[Big Nikus]

Yo what the fuck, the guy around 2:20 in the vid. He creeped me out, suddenly turning his head to look at the camera with a weird face. Who (or what) is it ?

Call the Doctor asap.

 

[Loxley]

I love stuff like this.

 

[Speevy]

Yo what the fuck, the guy around 2:20 in the vid. He creeped me out, suddenly turning his head to look at the camera with a weird face. Who (or what) is it ?

Call the Doctor asap.

 

[Jaeyden]

Seen it. Welcome to the internet bro.

 

[Slackbladder]

That old footage is pretty cool.

I thought I'd enjoy seeing the side by side comparisons, but, they're all just the same thing in color.

Yeah a lot of central London has barely changed in 100 years. The Germans centred on the East End more in WWII and Westminster, the bridges etc just don't change much.

 

[SymbiantXenos]

Something uniquely haunting about footage taken that long ago.

Take RoundHay Garden Scene for instance.

 

[DiscoJer]

We don't really realize it, because of the lack of sound thing (which means they never get shown anymore), but the movie industry started around 1900. There are literally 100s of movies made between 1900 and 1920. Actors had entire careers before sound was introduced.

 

[DarkArterialGore]

Yo what the fuck, the guy around 2:20 in the vid. He creeped me out, suddenly turning his head to look at the camera with a weird face. Who (or what) is it ?

Call the Doctor asap.

 

[lastplayed]

Look how open Downing St is.

 

[nkarafo]

Amazing how these roads have more horses than automobiles.

 

[besada]

Now one of our intrepid London GAFfers needs to go out and take modern photos in the same position and present a photo essay to us. Make it happen, Londoners. There's a tag in it for you if it's good.

 

[Griss]

Hard to get over the idea that all of the people you're watching are dead. No matter how long or how well they lived, they're gone now. Makes me sad as fuck thinking about it. I hope they lived well, were loved, and not lonely.

EDIT: I hadn't even got to the point where the area the soldiers are standing in next to the castle is now a field of poppies to remember a war that had not yet been fought. God damn...

 

[lastplayed]

Now one of our intrepid London GAFfers needs to go out and take modern photos in the same position and present a photo essay to us. Make it happen, Londoners. There's a tag in it for you if it's good.

Well here's a similar shot of St Paul's I took about 10 years ago!

 

[More_Badass]

Seeing the same architecture in both times really nails the point home

 

[nephilimdj]

Feels kinda weird I have taken photos in like 3/4 of those locations including random statues

 

[Lothar]

When I see these videos I always think 'everyone I see are now dead'.

I think that and 'One day people will be looking at videos of us and saying the same.'

 

[eyeball_kid]

Yo what the fuck, the guy around 2:20 in the vid. He creeped me out, suddenly turning his head to look at the camera with a weird face. Who (or what) is it ?

Call the Doctor asap.

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

I wonder if this is London fog, or factory pollution?

As amazing and strange as it is to see films of horse-drawn carriages, I found it even more strange to see that 1945 color footage right after the war. It also hit home just how much of Berlin was left in ruins.