15 Photos That Show Famous World Landmarks in Their 1950s Glory

The 1950s had a certain shine to it — chrome cars on the road, diners buzzing at midnight, and landmarks that felt bigger than life. Families piled into station wagons to see the Grand Canyon, couples honeymooned under the Eiffel Tower, and road-trippers pulled over just to snap a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge. Some sights were brand new, like the United Nations Headquarters in New York, while others had been around for centuries but were seeing a new wave of curious visitors. These vintage photos show what some of the world’s most famous landmarks looked like in the 1950s.

1. Snowball Fight Outside Buckingham Palace (1955)

2. Cold London Morning on Westminster Bridge

3. Visiting Machu Picchu

4. Giovanna Mazzoni Riding Past the Colosseum on a Vespa With Her Date (1952)

5. Queen Elizabeth II at Her Coronation in Westminster Abbey (1953)

6. Getting Acrobatic on the Pyramids of Giza (1954)

7. Painting the Golden Gate Bridge (1955)

8. Empire State Building in the NYC Haze (1955)

9. Charming the Queen’s Guard at the Tower of London (1953)

10. Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant at Mt. Rushmore, During the Making of ‘North by Northwest’

11. Painting the Clock Face of Big Ben

12. Tourists at Niagara Falls (1958)

13. Riding Horses in the Grand Canyon (1950)

14. Honeymoon at Banff National Park (1952)

15. Painting the Eiffel Tower

Curious about other famous landmarks?

Start by taking a look at these 14 Bizarre Buildings That Actually Exist, then check out 16 Retro Diners Through the Decades. To see landmarks before they were complete, don’t miss Photos of 10 Incredible Landmarks Under Construction.