Barnet estate agent pioneered virtual property tours in the 1840s

A London estate agency offered prospective buyers an early form of virtual property tour more than 160 years before digital listings became standard. Brooks and Green, based in Old Bond Street, used cosmorama technology in the 1840s and 1850s to promote luxury homes and country estates. The technique involved specially commissioned images viewed through convex lenses, creating an immersive experience with controlled lighting.

How the cosmorama worked

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The cosmorama was a Victorian-era visual display that used convex lenses to enlarge images, giving viewers an illusion of depth. Researchers say the technology was one of the most common forms of visual entertainment across Europe and the Americas for half a century. Professor John Plunkett, lead author of the study and an expert in 19th-century visual media at the University of Exeter, said the appeal lay in its ability to simulate virtual travel.

Brooks and Green’s advertisements claimed to include several hundred views of estates, presented from an aerial perspective. Each image required an artist to visit the property and create a detailed illustration. The process was expensive, limiting its use to prestigious homes and estates. The firm’s advertisements ran until at least 1859, as reported by *ianVisits*.

Why estate agents adopted the technology

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Professor Plunkett said the discovery shows how estate agents experimented with sophisticated marketing techniques as Britain’s property market became more professional. In the 19th century, buyers had no access to photographs or floor plans. The rise of specialised estate agencies, driven by population growth and urbanisation, created demand for new ways to showcase properties.

In contemporary life, prospective purchasers of real estate are usually aided by a full suite of photographs and floor plans, and often an online video walk-through. Nineteenth-century buyers had no such advantages.

Professor John Plunkett, University of Exeter

The research, published in *Early Popular Visual Culture*, catalogued over 650 documented cosmoramas in Portugal, Spain, and the UK. Cosmorama galleries appeared in bazaars, travelling shows, and dedicated exhibition spaces across Britain and Ireland. Plunkett traced the spread of the technology through newspaper advertisements and articles.

What happens next

The study is part of a wider project on the history of cosmoramas and their role in immersive entertainment. No further research specific to Brooks and Green’s use of the technology has been announced. The findings remain a historical record of early property marketing techniques.