Thomas Annan’s Glasgow

Thomas Annan (1829 - 1887) started off as a commercial photographer, producing cartes-de-visite, landscapes and stereoscopic views. Later, along with his sons John and James Craig Annan, he became famous for his fine art reproductions and his photography documenting the architecture of Glasgow: both its slums before clearance and its elegant houses.

The photographs featured on this site provide a unique glimpse of the burgeoning Victorian city with streets and tenements now all long disappeared. They provide a fascinating visual document that traces the social history of one of Scotland’s most prosperous and ever-changing cities.