A Reddit User Shows How London Has Transformed Using Old Paintings And Google Street View
A Reddit user called shystone combined Google Street Views of London with famous 18th and 19th century paintings to create highly unique then-and-now images (via My Modern Met and/r/London).
Shystone layered the paintings on top of the Google Street View images, at times allowing modern cars, statues, and architecture to poke through the painting.
Take a look at how much London has changed below.
"Northumberland House" by Italian painter Canaletto (1752)
"On the South end of Trafalgar Square this huge townhouse stood from 1605 right up to 1874 when it was demolished after compulsorily purchase by Government to make way for a new road," shystone said. "There's a Waterstones on the corner now under an old hotel building.""Blackman Street London" by British artist John Atkinson Grimshaw (1885)
"The 9th of November, 1888" by English painter William Logsdail (1890)
"View of The Grand Walk" by Italian painter Canaletto (1751)
Courtesy of shystone/Reddit"The Pleasure Gardens in Vauxhall were a big deal in the 1600s," shystone said. "There was music and live entertainment and hot air balloons! Picking up hookers and working boys too by the time this was painted. Better for gay clubbing these days if that's your bag."
"A View of Greenwich from the River" by Italian painter Canaletto (1750-2)
"Covent Garden Market" by English painter Balthazar Nebot (1737)
"St Martins in the Fields" by English painter William Logsdail (1888)
"On the other side of Trafalgar Square is St. Martin's in the Fields," according to shystone. "Not as old as Northumberland House but there's been a church on the site for at least 800 years. You see locals doing Tai Chi at lunchtime in the courtyard over the crypt when the weather is nice."The River Thames with "St. Paul's Cathedral on Lord Mayor's Day" by Italian painter Canaletto (1746)
"The Millennium Bridge cuts across this patch of the river now," shystone explained. "You still get a great view of St. Pauls from the South side of the river, but in 1746 - only 40 years since they finished building it - it must have totally dominated London's skyline; It was our city's tallest building for over 300 years!"Westminster Abbey with a "Procession of Knights of the Bath" by Italian painter Canaletto (1749)
"The Strand Looking East from Exeter Exchange" by an unknown artist (1822)
"Most of those buildings are gone, but some of the roads remain and retain their slope down towards the old Thames riverbank. On Villers St., the riverbank came right up to where Gordon's Wine Bar is."