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Historic discovery finds 19th-century estate agent used peepshow technology to create proto version of Rightmove

Phys · · 752 words · By Andrew Merrington
Academic Research History of Technology Real Estate Marketing
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Research from the University of Exeter has revealed that a 19th-century London real estate firm, Brooks and Green, used cosmorama technology to provide prospective buyers with immersive visual tours of properties. This practice is presented as an early precursor to modern digital property walkthroughs and was part of a larger study on the history of immersive visual media.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 9
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center50%
Right50%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Historic discovery finds 19th-century estate agent used peepshow technology to create proto version of Rightmove Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Alexander Pol Deputy Editor A 19th-century real estate agent created the world's first version of Rightmove more than…

Why it matters

Brooks and Green, a high-end real estate agent based on Old Bond Street in London, used an early form of immersive visual technology called a cosmorama to offer prospective buyers a virtual tour of the properties it was selling.

Common ground

New research by the University of Exeter has discovered that for 20 years during the 1840s and '50s, decades before photography was used to advertise property, Brooks and Green had created its own version of a "digital walkthrough." The discovery has emerged…

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Research from the University of Exeter has revealed that a 19th-century London real estate firm, Brooks and Green, used cosmorama technology to provide prospective buyers with immersive visual tours of properties. This practice is presented as an early precursor to modern digital property walkthroughs and was part of a larger study on the history of immersive visual media.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-08-historic-discovery-19th-century-estate.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 9 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 7
help Insufficient Evidence 1
info Single Source 1
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Claim 1: “The firm advertised its cosmoramic views until at least 1859.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results explicitly state that the firm advertised these views from the late 1830s 'to at least 1859'.
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web search NEUTRAL — At least 47 people have been killed after a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing dozens of buildings and trapping residents under debris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYnvny6WAPA
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Apartments For Sale. Available to View. Recently Added Properties. Overseas Holiday Homes.Auction. BER Assessors. Property Conveyancing Solicitors. Pre Purchase Surveyors. Professional Services.
https://www.myhome.ie/
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web search NEUTRAL — A 19th-century estate agent created the world’s first version of Rightmove more than 160 years before the birth of online property previews. Brooks and Green, a high-end estate agent based in Old Bond…
https://news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-humanities-arts-and-soc…
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Claim 2: “New research by the University of Exeter has discovered that for 20 years during the 1840s and '50s... Brooks and Green had created its own version of a "digital walkthrough."”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm that research (linked to the University of Exeter in the claim, though the provided snippets focus on the discovery itself) found Brooks and Green used cosmoramas for property walkthroughs during the 1840s and 1850s.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter_College,_Oxford
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public research university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Brookes_University
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exet…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Exeter
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 3: “Ads in London newspapers in the late 1830s revealed that auctioneer and surveyor Brooks and Hedger (later, Brooks and Green), on Old Bond Street... were offering cosmoramic views of some of the properties and estates they were selling.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that newspaper ads from the late 1830s show Brooks and Hedger (later Brooks and Green) offered cosmoramic views of properties.
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web search NEUTRAL — Decades ago, rich homebuyers viewed properties through a certain lens. In the 1830s, London estate agents used a technology called the cosmorama to give wealthy buyers a form of “virtual walkthrough” …
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/in-…
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web search NEUTRAL — From the late 1830s to at least 1859, London estate agent Brooks and Green used cosmorama images to market luxury properties. Convex lenses, lighting, and aerial views of houses and grounds provided i…
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-historic-discovery-19th-centur…
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web search NEUTRAL — During the research, he uncovered newspaper advertisements showing that Brooks and Hedger – later renamed Brooks and Green – had begun offering cosmoramic views of properties from the late 1830s.
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/before-rightmove-there-…
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Claim 4: “Brooks and Green, a high-end real estate agent based on Old Bond Street in London, used an early form of immersive visual technology called a cosmorama to offer prospective buyers a virtual tour of the properties it was selling.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources confirm that Brooks and Green, an estate agent on Old Bond Street, used cosmoramas to provide virtual tours of properties.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 84 Brook Green is a building at 84 Brook Green, Hammersmith, London, W6 7BD. The house dates from the mid-19th century. It was both the workplace of the Silver Studio and the Silver family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/84_Brook_Green
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brook Green is an affluent sub-neighbourhood of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Located approximately 3.6 miles (5.8 km) west of Charing Cross, it is bordered by Kensingt…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_Green
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brook Green is an electoral ward in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The ward in its current form was first used in the 2022 elections and elects two councillors to Hammersmith and Fulham…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_Green_(ward)
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 5: “In cosmorama galleries, the paintings were not immediately visible. They were hidden behind walls and viewed through convex lenses that enlarged them and enhanced their depth effects.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources describe the use of magnifying/convex lenses and special lighting to create an illusion of depth and immersion for the paintings.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — These large paintings (in 1823, after Daguerre’s Diorama, their size reached 203cm by 121cm) created a great illusion of depth and immersion due to special lighting and the magnifying lenses used to o…
https://curiositas.ulusofona.pt/cosmoramas/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Parallax Effects in Figma | Step-by-Step Animation Tutorial + Free Figma FileAgatha Richards5.9K views • 1 year agoLivePlaylist ()Mix (50+). 15:21.How to Create a Card Component in Figma (Variant, Boo…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4sqFtV-SUE
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web search NEUTRAL — Cosmoramas began to be regularly advertised in the press from the 1820s onward. The research project Curiositas has catalogued, for the first time, over 700 of these advertisements published in Portug…
https://www.timemachine.eu/ltm-projects/mapping-cosmoramas/
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Claim 6: “It claimed that its gallery included "several Hundred Views of different estates" from an "Aerial Perspective" showing the house and relevant grounds.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results to confirm the specific claim about 'several Hundred Views' from an 'Aerial Perspective'.
info
Claim 7: “These new insights have emerged through the European research project, CURIOSITAS: Peeping Before Virtual Reality. A Media Archaeology of Immersion Through VR and the Iberian Cosmoramas, led by the Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the project 'CURIOSITAS' is mentioned in the context of cosmoramas in web results, the specific detail that it was led by the Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon is not explicitly corroborated across multiple independent sources in the provided evidence snippets, though it is implied by the project's nature.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" is the seventeenth episode of Family Guy's third season, and the 45th episode overall. It originally aired on Fox on January 17, 2002. In the episode, Brian is sen…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wallows_and_Peter's_Swal…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Dua Lipa ( DOO-ə LEE-pə; Albanian: [ˈdua ˈlipa] ; born 22 August 1995) is an English singer and songwriter. Her accolades include seven Brit Awards and three Grammy Awards. Lipa worked as a model bef…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dua_Lipa
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following is a list of characters from the light novel, anime and manga series Sword Art Online. Most of the characters are introduced as gamers who play and consequently become trapped in a virtu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sword_Art_Online_chara…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “The research project cataloged more than 650 cosmoramas in Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom”
CORROBORATED
Two different sources mention the cataloging of cosmoramas/advertisements; one specifies 'over 650 cosmoramas in Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom', while another mentions 'over 700 of these advertisements'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Arabic alphabet, or the Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is a unicameral script written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and in…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet
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web search NEUTRAL — In Portugal and Spain, Cosmoramas were presented under various designations, which did not always contribute to their study and understanding.Later shows, such as the Neorama and the Diorama, generate…
https://curiositas.ulusofona.pt/cosmoramas/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The research project Curiositas has catalogued, for the first time, over 700 of these advertisements published in Portuguese, Spanish, British, Brazilian, and North American newspapers.
https://www.timemachine.eu/ltm-projects/mapping-cosmoramas/
+ 1 more evidence source
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Claim 9: “The discovery has emerged as part of a broader study of the history of the cosmorama across Europe and its contribution to the development of "show business." It has been published in a special themed edition of Early Popular Visual Culture.”
CORROBORATED
Web sources explicitly state the discovery is part of a study on the cosmorama's contribution to 'show-business' and was published in 'Early Popular Visual Culture'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_popular_culture
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art [cf. pop art] or ma…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Visual culture is the aspect of culture expressed in visual images. Many academic fields study this subject, including cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, media studies, Deaf S…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_culture
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.