Images: Architecture

Guide to high-quality image databases and resources. Interdisciplinary image content, search strategies, evaluating images, & image citation guide.

General Architecture

ExecutiveHouse

Executive House
Hotel, Chicago,
Illinois, 1960. Milton
Schwartz & Assoc.
Image Source:
Davis/UW Image
Bank.

Artstor This link opens in a new window
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Image library of nearly one million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences. Broad coverage of visual culture from many time periods and areas of the world, including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, anthropology, ethnographic and women's studies, and more.

*new* ARTstor now requires all users to register and log in to download images.

Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)
Part of the American Memory Project, this collection contains more than 350,000 measured drawings, photographs, and written histories in architecture, engineering, and design in the United States and its territories.
Cities and Buildings Database
Buildings and cities from throughout history and throughout the world. A collection begun by UW professor Meredith L. Clausen for use in the classroom, student study, or individual research purposes.
National Register of Historic Places on Flickr
Photos U.S. historic sites on the National Register of Historic Places, taken by staff photographers. Organized into sets by location and type of building.
Structurae
International collection of architecture and engineering images and information, including historic and contemporary structures. Focus on works of interest for their structural engineering.

Architecture Special Topics

Amiens Cathedral, Amiens, France
Complete photographic documentation of French Gothic Cathedral
Asian Historical Architecture: a photographic survey
Contains over 9000 photos from 568 sites in eighteen countries, surveying Asia's architectural heritage.
ArchNet Islamic Architecture
International online community for architects, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, conservationists, and scholars, with a focus on Muslim cultures and civilizations. Images of historic and contemporary Islamic architecture.
Catena Digital Archive of Historic Gardens & Landscapes
Archive of digital images with accompanying educational materials, built around the villa, an important landscape type in garden history. Sponsored by the Bard Graduate Center through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Cathedral of Notre Dame (Chartres Cathedral), Chartres, France
Over 3000 images of the cathedral architecture, sculpture, and stained glass.
Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
Contains photographs of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, divided into photographs taken pre-opening in 1997 and post-opening in 2000.
MEDart Images of Medieval Art & Architecture
Extensive documentation of Chartres Cathedral and the Benedictine Abbey Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vezelay, including photographs, drawings, plans, and historical information.
Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD)
Architecture in Washington, Oregon, and California. Images, building and architect information, and bibliography.
Top Ten New York Architecture
Contemporary and historic images of significant buildings in New York. Inclues photography, postcards, and posters. Organized by style, building function, and neighborhood.

Panoramas

360cities
Panoramic views of sites and architecture around the world. Join to upload your panoramas.
arounder
Panoramic views of important sites in European and American cities. Includes historical cathedrals and works of art, museums featuring famous artists, local cafes and stores, mountain-top views, parks and gardens.