Large international collection of mostly contemporary buildings.

DETAIL Inspiration is an image and reference database with more than 3000 projects from the last 30 years of architecture magazine, DETAIL. This collection presents construction solutions for architects as they research. Projects are detailed and available to download as PDFs. The database content is expanded and updated with the release of each new issue of the magazine.

Includes the ARTstor Digital Library-a nonprofit resource that provides over 3 digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research. Its community-built collections comprise contributions from outstanding international museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists' estates.

Subscription-based materials library with thousands of innovative materials and processes across all disciplines of design.

360Cities is the web’s largest collection of stunning, georeferenced panoramic photos, created by a network of thousands of expert panorama photographers from around the world. Users can find images via keyword search or browse by map location, and can even view panoramas of Mars.

Developed by Pierre du Prey, Professor Emeritus at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, this site contains image galleries that can be access through one of three paths: chronological, thematic, and theoretical. Users of the site can then choose to view an associated presentation or image gallery.

Built from the images of Professor Emeritus Charles S. Rhyne of Reed College, this site featues about 800 images documenting the construction of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California.

ArchNet's digital library offers an extensive variety of architectural images. Organized by collection, country, building type, building style, building usage, century, decade, and site name, this site hosts over 66,000 images. ArchNet is a project of MIT, and has a "focus on Muslim cultures and civilizations." All the images in the digital library can be used for academic, educational, or personal use. Please be sure to cite the source, photographer/author, and copyright holder.

Here you can view over 24,700 photos of 965 sites in twenty-one countries, with background information and virtual tours. This website is a collection of photos from many different contributors.

A photographic survey of Asian architecture heritage, history, and styles. Here you can view over 53,000 photos of 1,804 sites in twenty-three countries, with extensive background information.

In German, this site contains about two million images from thirteen different European countries. This site is both searchable and browsable, and contains good quality images. Images are available for private, non-commercial use.

"The Canadian Architectural Archives (CAA), MacKimmie Library, was established in 1974 as a joint venture between the University of Calgary Library and the Faculty of Environmental Design. With the mandate of collecting the work of twentieth century Canadian architects, the archives has emphasized the documentation of the total output of architectural firms in an attempt to provide an accurate historical profile. Collections may consist of drawings, project files, correspondence, slides, photographs, aperture cards, oral history tapes and transcripts, and architectural models." With over 10,000 images, the site is easy to navigate, contains great images, and has informative metadata. Images are available for personal use.

Theaters on Postcards is Andreas Praefcke's postcard collection of theatres and concert halls worldwide. The images are organized by location, and are fairly decent quality. Images are available for non-commercial purposes. The author invites users to email him for higher quality images if needed.

A UIUC digital collection, the Champaign-Urbana Historic Built Environment offers a selection from the holdings of the Champaign County Historical Archives, which was established as a department of The Urbana Free Library in 1956. Among its holdings of books, manuscripts, and maps, the archives has preserved over 50,000 photographs of local people and locations. This collection provides a sampling of the rich visual history of Champaign-Urbana's historic built environment in the 19th and 20th century, including images of residential, commercial, governmental, educational, medical, and religious structures, and thus reflects the notion that historic buildings serve as an entryway into the community's collective memory.

This website provides access to a comprehensive collection of images and detailed descriptions of Chartres Cathedral. This collection of 3,400 images is hosted by the Digital Research Library at the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of Dr. Alison Stones, Professor of History of Art and Architecture.

From the University of Washington, a collection of over 12,000 images of buildings and cities drawn from across time and throughout the world, available to students, researchers and educators on the web

This site "presents over 6,100 photographic images from the slide collections of the American Geographical Society Library. The images selected for this project focus on architecture, city life, people, transportation and other aspects of urban development, such as neighborhoods, commercial streets, and business districts. The pictures were taken by two photographers, Harrison Forman and Harold Mayer between 1942 and 1994. The digital collection provides access to photographs of over 450 cities worldwide. In addition to present-day metropolitan areas, this collection also features ancient cities and deserted settlements, including Carthage, Great Zimbabwe, Machupicchu, and Persepolis." The images may be copied by individuals or libraries for personal use, research, teaching or any "fair use" as defined by copyright law.

The Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives was created to collect, conserve, preserve, and promote the use of records that document the architecture, engineering, and arts associated with the built environment of Columbus, Indiana and Bartholomew County. The archives’ collection includes materials on both Historical and Modernist projects, including many of the 60 plus designs by world famous architects of the last half century that are located in Bartholomew County.

The Conway Library contains almost 1 million photographs of world architecture, architectural drawings, sculpture, decorative arts and manuscripts.

World Wonders brings modern and ancient world heritage sites online using Street View, 3D modelling and other Google technologies. Explore historic sites including Stonehenge, the archaeological areas of Pompeii and the Great Barrier Reef as if you were there. Learn about the history and background of each location with information provided through a partnership with UNESCO.

This site contains historic illustrations that were originally published during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many originally appeared in publications that predated the widespread use of photography for art documentation. Each image contains extensive metadata, and can be downloaded at different sizes. Users can create 'portfolios,' or a collection of organized images, and share them with the public. Users can browse existing portfolios such as 'Dada in Berlin" or "Photography in Politics." The 347 images hosted by the site are mostly architecture, however it also includes art.

Hosted by the Library of Congress, the Korab collection features almost 800 photographs Balthazar Korab documenting 19 projects designed by Eero Saarinen.

With a database of images, texts, charts and historical maps, Mapping Gothic France invites you to explore the parallel stories of Gothic architecture and the formation of France in the 12th and 13th centuries, considered in three dimensions: space, time, and narrative.

These 14,800 images document buildings that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, some information about each place is provided. Hosted by Flickr.

The Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD) includes a range of information on the buildings and designers of California, Oregon and Washington. Professionals in other fields related to architecture have also been included, such as landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, urban planners, developers, and building contractors. Building records are tied to those of their creators (when known) and include historical and geographical information and images. Bibliographical information, such as magazine citations, book citations and web sites, has also been linked for creators and structures.

This website offers a freedownload of over 4,000 images of patterns and other design features drawn from the rich cultural heritage of the Islamic world.

Picture Chicago is a collection of images originally published in books about Chicago that were digitized by the University of Illinois' Urbana and Chicago campus libraries. Here you can see photographs of Chicago gangsters, politicians, and early famous Chicagoans; the first taxicab in the city; the early pneumatic tube system installed in the the Chicago Post Office; the devastating fire at the Iroquois Theater in 1904 that took the lives of hundreds of Chicagoans; Michigan Avenue before it was widened; stately North Shore residences; the draft plans to straighten the Chicago River; and much, much more! Within the description of each image you will find a link back to the original digitized text. Picture Chicago is a joint project of the libraries of the Urbana and Chicago campuses of the University of Illinois.

From the Royal Institute of British Architects, this gallery of 50,000 images from the collections of the British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects, the world’s most extensive visual archive devoted to architecture. RIBApix covers world architecture of all periods together with related subjects such as interior design, landscape, topography, planning, construction and the decorative arts. Many of the images are also of social documentary importance. One can use the Quick search box above to do simple free–text searches. You may also simply Browse the entire collection. For more structured searching by categories such as architect and building you should use Advanced search or Subject search.

SAHARA is a digital image archive developed by the Society of Architectural Historians in collaboration with ARTstor. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, SAHARA contains more than 47,000 images of architecture and landscapes contributed by SAH members.

This is a free, open-access site containing entries for around 100 buildings chosen by the editors as among the most significant or representative ones from their respective regions. Each entries contains high quality images, a map, and a narrative text. This is a growing resource that is currently focused on the United States, but has the ultimate goal of becoming the comprehensive resource for information on buildings from across the globe.

Nicolas Janberg's international daabase of engineering, architecture, or construction through time is fairly comprehensive, and offers great data in addition to photographs. Structurae deals mostly with bridges, tunnels, dams, skyscrapers, stadiums, towers, etc, but many buildings can be found. Photographs may be used for private and educational purposes as long as both the photographer and Structurae are credited properly.

Approximately 1500 magic lantern slides from the UHM Collection, gifted by donors Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai and the family of Reverend Takie Okumura.

The Illinois Built Environment collection provides to the public for the first time, a first-hand view of select original documents used to shape the University of Illinois campus. Among others, items include hand sketches of campus plans, original trace and linen drawings of many of the Central Quadrangle buildings, four separate proposed sketches for the original Library, now known as Altgeld Hall, and watercolor renderings for the display of the Alma Mater and many buildings.

250 items including include hand sketches of campus plans, original trace and linen drawings of many of the Central Quadrangle buildings, four separate proposed sketches for the original Library, now known as Altgeld Hall, and watercolor renderings for the display of the Alma Mater and many buildings. Many of the documents are common elevation architectural drawings.

This collection contains over four thousand color slides and black and white photographs of medieval Spain taken by the late Eugene Casselman (1912-1996) during his thirty years of travel throughout the Iberian peninsula. The images span over one thousand years of architectural history, from the seventh to the seventeenth century. The majority of the slides focus on the Mudejar style, an ornate court style largely inspired by Spanish Islamic architecture that was shared among Islamic, Jewish, and Christian cultures during the later Middle Ages in Spain.

"The Benedictine abbey church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay in Burgundy is one of the most important surviving monuments of architecture and sculpture of the Romanesque period." Alison Stones bring this church to life in her extensive photographic collection. Images are browsable, searchable, good quality, and available for educational use.