London's 1840s estate agents used a 'cosmorama' to sell luxury homes
Before Rightmove, there was the Cosmorama
Researchers at the University of Exeter have found that a high-end London estate agency, Brooks and Green, used an immersive visual technology called a cosmorama in the 1840s and 1850s to market luxury properties. The device, which used convex lenses and controlled lighting to create depth and an illusion of virtual travel, predated photography and online listings by over a century. The study catalogued over 650 cosmoramas across Europe and the Americas, revealing their use beyond entertainment.
In that context, we can see how Brooks and Green pioneered the virtual tour, over 150 years before digital technology would fully realise this potential.
- africajam
Ha ha, nice.
Annoying though that rightmove have become seen now as synonymous with house hunting in the UK. They are massively abusing that position and there is a £1.5bn claim against them in the courts right now.
I really hope they lose that claim but in the mean time I am doing my bit to try to get traffic back to estate agents from rightmove.
If you take out "htm" from the domain name while browsing a rightmove listing it will take you to a page where you can (in some instances) find a link to the same property on the estate agent's site.
The success of rigove will depend on getting a snowball effect going and right now I'm doing everything I can to build on the initial momentum.
- tehnoslow
Pretty much Victorian Photoshop. The artist painted from the most flattering angle, with perfect lighting and the lenses made the image look three‑dimensional. Funny how in 2026 we’re doing exactly the same thing just with more advanced tech, and now it’s not only premium properties that get sold that way...