Our Old World¶

A collection of pre-1900 buildings looked at from two sides: the story we are told, and the alternative.

Many of the grand buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries raise questions that the official records don't always answer well. Ornate domes and towers put up in a few years. Huge stone structures in small or remote towns. Ground floors half buried below street level. Buildings that were "built" for one purpose and then abandoned soon after. This repo collects those places, sets out the accepted history, and then looks at what an alternative explanation might be.

The aim is not to tell anyone what to believe. It is to put both versions side by side, with sources, so readers can weigh them up for themselves.

What this repo covers¶

Pre-1900 buildings only. Anything built (or said to have been built) before 1900: palaces, casinos, villas, churches, exhibition halls, railway stations, star forts, public buildings and so on.
The main story. The accepted history: who built it, when, why, and what happened to it, backed by sources.
The alternative view. The questions and anomalies that don't fit neatly, and the alternative history theories that try to explain them.

Themes in the alternative view¶

These are some of the ideas that come up again and again when looking at old world buildings. Entries may touch on one or more of them.

Who really built it? The theory that some of these buildings came from an earlier, more advanced civilisation (sometimes called Tartaria or the "old world") and were later claimed, re-dated or repurposed.
Construction timelines. Buildings recorded as finished in a handful of years with the tools, labour and money of the time. Does the timeline add up?
Mud flood and buried floors. Ground floors and windows below today's street level, raised streets, and buildings that appear to have been dug out.
Shared architecture worldwide. The same domes, columns and proportions turning up on different continents at around the same time.
Purpose and abandonment. Buildings that seem far too grand for their stated use, or that were abandoned or demolished soon after being finished.
Missing or thin records. Gaps in architects' records, construction photos, plans or costs.
Old maps, photos and postcards. Early images that show things the official story doesn't explain.

For where these ideas come from, how they apply to the buildings here, and people to watch and read, see The alternative view.

Repository structure¶

our-old-world/
├── README.md
├── CLAUDE.md                       # Research brief: how entries are researched and written
├── GLOSSARY.md                     # Features index (domes, towers, rose windows...)
├── TIMELINE.md                     # Buildings in date order (generated)
├── ALTERNATIVE-VIEW.md             # The theories explained, and people to watch
├── mkdocs.yml                      # Website settings
├── assets/                         # Website styles
├── scripts/
│   ├── build_index.py              # Rebuilds the Buildings list and the glossary
│   └── build_site.py               # Prepares the website build
├── links/
│   ├── research-list.md            # Buildings to add, with progress ticks
│   ├── image-shortlist.md          # Freely licensed images to add
│   └── poi.md                      # Points of interest still to be researched
└── places/
    └── <country>/
        └── <building>/
            ├── <building>.md       # The write-up
            └── images/             # Photos, postcards, maps

Example: places/italy/villa-sultana/villa-sultana.md

The town or city goes in the details table at the top of each entry, not in the folder path. Categories such as railway station or castle go in the entry's Type row rather than in folders, because one building can belong to several.

Buildings¶

Every building, grouped by type. A building can appear under more than one type (for example a station that is also a hotel). This list is generated automatically from each entry's Type row, so there's no need to edit it by hand.

Jump to: Casino (1) · Castle (2) · Cathedral (2) · Exhibition hall (4) · Government building (1) · Historic district (1) · Hotel (1) · Museum (1) · Palace (1) · Planned town (1) · Railway station (4) · Shopping arcade (1) · Star fort (2) · Street level (1) · Villa (2)

Casino¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Villa Sultana (Villa "La Sultana")	Italy	1883–1884	Abandoned / derelict

Castle¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Castello di Sammezzano	Italy	Early 1600s; remodelled c. 1853–1889	Abandoned since 1990
Rocchetta Mattei	Italy	From 1850, on the ruins of a medieval fortress; extended until the 1890s	Restored by Fondazione Carisbo

Cathedral¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Cologne Cathedral	Germany	Begun 1248; work stopped 1473; resumed 1842; completed 1880	In use
Saint Isaac's Cathedral	Russia	1818–1858	Museum, with church services held

Exhibition hall¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Royal Exhibition Building	Australia	1879–1880	In use as an exhibition venue
Palais du Trocadéro	France	1876–1878	Largely demolished 1935–1937
The Crystal Palace	UK	1850–1851; dismantled and rebuilt larger at Sydenham 1852–1854	Destroyed by fire 1936
Palace of Fine Arts, Chicago	USA	1891–1893; rebuilt in stone c. 1929–1933	In use as the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

Government building¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Palace of Westminster and Elizabeth Tower	UK	Rebuilt c. 1840–1870 after the fire of 1834; clock tower completed c. 1859	In use

Historic district¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Seattle Underground	USA	Streets and buildings mostly 1889–1890s; streets raised in the years after 1889	Partly accessible on guided tours

Hotel¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
St Pancras Station and Midland Grand Hotel	UK	Train shed 1865–1868; hotel 1868–1876	In use as St Pancras International station and the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

Museum¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Palace of Fine Arts, Chicago	USA	1891–1893; rebuilt in stone c. 1929–1933	In use as the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

Palace¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Royal Pavilion, Brighton	UK	1787 (Marine Pavilion); rebuilt and extended c. 1815–1823	Museum, run by Brighton & Hove Museums

Planned town¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Palmanova	Italy	Founded 7 October 1593; outer ring added in the early 19th century	Inhabited town

Railway station¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Anhalter Bahnhof	Germany	1876–1880, replacing a station of 1841	Demolished 1959–1960
Dresden Hauptbahnhof	Germany	1892–1898	In use
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof	Germany	1883–1888	In use
St Pancras Station and Midland Grand Hotel	UK	Train shed 1865–1868; hotel 1868–1876	In use as St Pancras International station and the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

Shopping arcade¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II	Italy	1865–1877	In use as a luxury shopping arcade

Star fort¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Palmanova	Italy	Founded 7 October 1593; outer ring added in the early 19th century	Inhabited town
Goryōkaku	Japan	c. 1857–1866 (sources differ)	Public park

Street level¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Seattle Underground	USA	Streets and buildings mostly 1889–1890s; streets raised in the years after 1889	Partly accessible on guided tours

Villa¶

Building	Country	Built	Status
Villa Crespi	Italy	From 1879	In use as a hotel and restaurant
Villa Sultana (Villa "La Sultana")	Italy	1883–1884	Abandoned / derelict

The research list has over 100 more pre-1900 buildings waiting to be added, with a tick next to each one that's done. Other leads are in links/poi.md.

Timeline¶

Want to see the buildings in date order? The timeline lists every building by when it was built, grouped by century, from medieval Cologne Cathedral to the 1890s.

Glossary of features¶

Want to see every building with a dome, a tower or a rose window? The glossary lists architectural features, explains why each one interests the alternative view, and links to every building that has it.

Adding a building¶

Check the building was built, or is said to have been built, before 1900.
Create a folder at places/<country>/<building-name>/ using lowercase and hyphens (for example places/uk/crystal-palace/).
Add a <building-name>.md file using the template below.
Put any images in an images/ folder next to it, and check the licence before uploading. Use short lowercase file names with hyphens, such as postcard-1900.jpg, and keep images under about 1600px wide. Show them on the page with a description and a credit line underneath:

![Short description of the image](images/postcard-1900.jpg)
*Caption: what it shows, date, source and licence.*

Put one main image under the details table and the rest in an ## Images section before Sources (see Villa Sultana for an example). On the website, readers can click any image to enlarge it. 5. Fill in the Type row with one or more categories, separated by commas, such as Railway station, Hotel. Reuse the names in the Buildings list where you can. 6. Fill in the Features row using names from the glossary. New features are fine too: the script will add a placeholder for them. 7. Run python3 scripts/build_index.py to update the Buildings list, the glossary and the links. If you skip this, it runs automatically on GitHub when the change reaches main.

Entry template¶

# Building Name

| | |
|---|---|
| **Location** | Address, town, region, country |
| **Built** | Year(s) |
| **Architect** | Name (if known) |
| **Style** | |
| **Type** | Railway station, Hotel |
| **Original use** | |
| **Status** | In use / Abandoned / Demolished / Restored |
| **Features** | Dome, Tower, Rose window |

## Overview

A short description of the building and where it is.

## The main story

The accepted history, with dates. Who built it, why, how it was funded,
and what happened to it afterwards.

## The alternative view

One subsection per anomaly or theme, each tagged Documented, Observed,
Reported or Speculative. For example: construction too fast, buried floors,
architecture matching buildings elsewhere, gaps in the records, or old
photos and maps that raise questions.

### Anomaly log

| Anomaly | Evidence | Label | Source |
|---|---|---|---|

### Timeline check

Materials, workforce and time against the official dates.

### Comparison buildings

Similar buildings elsewhere, with links.

### What would support the alternative view

### What would weaken it

## Open questions for contributors

Things that still need checking or that contributors could help with.

## Leads to follow up

Archives, documents, photos or people that could move the research on.

## Research notes

Your own observations and hunches.

## Images

## Sources

Links for both the main story and the alternative view.

The full research brief, including the research methods and evidence labels, is in CLAUDE.md.

Website¶

The repo is also published as a website with search, built with MkDocs Material and hosted on GitHub Pages at https://ourold.world/. It rebuilds automatically every time a change reaches main.

To preview it on your own computer:

pip install -r requirements-site.txt
python3 scripts/build_index.py && python3 scripts/build_site.py && mkdocs serve

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8000.

Guidelines¶

Cite sources for both sides. Link to the official records as well as the alternative research, so readers can follow the trail.
Keep the two clearly separate. The main story section should say what the records say. Theories and questions belong in the alternative view.
Note where sources disagree. Conflicting dates or details are often where the interesting questions start.
Respect image licences. Only add images you have the right to use, and credit them where possible.
Be respectful. Challenge ideas, not people.

Disclaimer¶

This is an independent research project that questions accepted history. The alternative views here are theories and open questions, not established fact. Readers are encouraged to check the sources and make up their own minds.