Old Houses at Corner of George Street and High Street
Thomas Annan
British, 1829–1887
1897
A 1897 photogravure by Thomas Annan that records the cramped, chimney‑filled roofs of Glasgow tenements—an effort to document and preserve the city’s deteriorating housing as part of social and civic reform.
From a high vantage you see a sea of slate roofs and clustered chimney pots, narrow courts and empty yards punctuated by smoke and mist that turn the dense fabric of buildings into a textured, almost abstract pattern.
Annan’s work helped establish photography as a tool of social investigation and municipal reform, making visible urban living conditions and influencing how documentary and artistic photography would address the modern city.
Medium
Photogravure
Dimensions
6 3/8 × 9 1/16" (16.2 × 23 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
308.1975.40
Palette
Exhibitions
