Lost Victorian City

About the Exhibition

This FREE exhibition ‘Lost Victorian City: a London disappeared’ takes a look at the collections held at The London Archives which provide a window into a Victorian London that has since gone from view. From photographs and records of buildings such as the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane in 1875, the Pool of London, horse drawn transport, shopping and entertainment, these records chart a rapidly evolving city.

The exhibition is open until 05 February 2025

The nineteenth century saw a huge increase in the population of London from just over two million at the time of the 1841 census to around six million by the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1901. This inevitably shaped the city with an intense period of building to make way for a new infrastructure that impacted the lives of the people of London. Developments in the twentieth century cleared some of the Victorian buildings as they were beginning to be considered old fashioned. Bomb damage during the Second World War also saw many parts of Victorian London swept away.

Using photographs, maps, panoramas, trade cards, watercolours, and historic documents to explore the theme, this exhibition uncovers London’s lost secrets. 

If you can’t visit the exhibition in person you can explore many thousands of Victorian images on the London Picture Archive.

The London Archives
40 Northampton Road
London
EC1R 0HB