Category Archives: house & building

Vintage American Interiors: 14 Pictures Show What Dallas Rooms Looked Like in the 1950s

These photos show modern rooms in Dallas during the 1950s. They were taken by Tom Collins who spent his early years as a photographer taking photos for businesses, advertising firms, architects, and newspapers.

In World War II, Boeing Built a Fake Rooftop Town to Hide Its Factory Beneath From Potential Air Strike by the Japanese

During World War II, a strange, house-filled neighborhood could be seen in the middle of an industrial area from the air. A close-up look would reveal that it was camouflage for Boeing’s Plant No. 2, where thousands of B-17 bombers were produced. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese submarines were spotted off the SanContinue reading “In World War II, Boeing Built a Fake Rooftop Town to Hide Its Factory Beneath From Potential Air Strike by the Japanese”

Rarely Seen Color Photos Reveal How Adolph Hitler Spent His Quiet Time

Incredibly rare and undoubtedly risky photos to take of the Fuhrer’s personal office within the Reich Chancellery. Very few have been allowed into the Fuhrer’s official seat of power, and very few photographs were taken within, let alone anybody given permission to bring a camera with them inside. This is where dictator Adolf Hitler relaxedContinue reading “Rarely Seen Color Photos Reveal How Adolph Hitler Spent His Quiet Time”

A Couple Sleeping in a Morrison Shelter Used as Protection From Collapsing Homes During the WWII ‘Blitz’ Bombing Raids

Morrison shelters were a way of protecting people from in their own homes from falling bombs. This was an alternative to the Anderson shelter in the garden and the public shelters. The Morrison shelter’s official name is the “Table (Morrison) indoor shelter”, it was designed by John Baker and named after Herbert Morrison who wasContinue reading “A Couple Sleeping in a Morrison Shelter Used as Protection From Collapsing Homes During the WWII ‘Blitz’ Bombing Raids”

Vintage Photos of 12 Crazy Wooden Homes on Wheels From the Early 20th Century

There is no formal definition of a house car but in the early 1900s, Americans want to take to the roads and explore. Some creative Tin Can tourists decided that they’d rather bring their home with them rather than have the tent attachments on the sides of their Model T’s, so they built larger structuresContinue reading “Vintage Photos of 12 Crazy Wooden Homes on Wheels From the Early 20th Century”

The Smallest Shop in London, 1910

London’s best known shops are often the giant department stores which draw in the tourist crowds, but this photo from 1910 shows one of the smallest shops in London. The smallest shop in London, occupied by a cobbler, at 4 Bateman Street, Soho. The shop is six feet long, five feet high and two feetContinue reading “The Smallest Shop in London, 1910”

Early Photographs of Streets of Glasgow From the Late 19th Century

Created between 1868 and 1871 as part of a commission from the City of Glasgow Improvements Trust, the Fife-born photographer Thomas Annan’s photographs of the working class areas of old Glasgow helped document the impoverished living conditions of the working class at the time. Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-mostContinue reading “Early Photographs of Streets of Glasgow From the Late 19th Century”

Sears Catalog ‘Kit Homes’ From the Early 20th Century

Sears Catalog Homes (sold under the Sears Modern Homes name) were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Company, an American retailer. Sears reported that more than 70,000 of these homes were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. More than 370 different home designs in a wideContinue reading “Sears Catalog ‘Kit Homes’ From the Early 20th Century”

48 Vintage Photos of Life in Depression-era Coal Mining Town Scott’s Run, West Virginia, 1937

The coaling industry, in comparison to the boom of the 1920s, had basically collapsed by 1932. Already suffering, the industry could not sustain the economic downturn brought about by the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Residents of Scotts Run not only suffered from unemployment, but also from ethnic and racial prejudice and limited educational opportunities.Continue reading “48 Vintage Photos of Life in Depression-era Coal Mining Town Scott’s Run, West Virginia, 1937”