Know what you're looking at.
learn architecture, history, and design from a photo.
Point your iPhone at a building, or upload a photo here. Archie names its style and rings the features that give it away, finds the building in a database of 826,291, and tells you who designed it and when.
Your first 3 identifications are free. The iPhone app and this site share one account.
Queen Anne · c. 1875–1905
Carson Mansion
- 1Turret. Central tower with a pyramid cap
- 2Wraparound porch. Porch across the front and corner
- 3Spindlework. Turned posts along the porch
How it works
from one photo to the whole story.
- 01
Take or upload a photo
Shoot with the iPhone app, or upload a photo on this site. Phone photos carry their location, which helps Archie name the exact building.
- 02
Archie reads the facade
It picks the style from 146 and rings the features that prove it on your photo, like a turret or a mansard roof.
- 03
It finds the building
Archie checks nearby buildings against reference photos, then searches the web by address. When it isn't sure, it names only the style.
- 04
You get its story
Who designed it, when it went up and what it was for, with the sources linked. Every section can be read aloud.
The building's story
named buildings come with their history.
When Archie knows the building, it writes up who built it and why from Wikipedia and other published sources, and links them. Then ask your own questions about it.
Art Deco · Los Angeles
Bullocks Wilshire
A department store that opened in 1929, designed by John and Donald Parkinson. The 241 foot tower is faced in buff terracotta with trim in copper that has weathered to green. Southwestern Law School has occupied the building since 1994.
Photo: Antoine Taveneaux, CC BY-SA 3.0
Your LifeList
collect every style you find.
Each new style you photograph lands on your LifeList, the way a birder keeps a list of species. 146 styles in ten eras, plus 50 architects to find. Your list follows you from the iPhone to this site.
The map
the city is the museum.
5,723 buildings worth a detour in 135 US cities, each with a write-up of what to look for. Browse it here before a trip, then walk it with the app.
Open the map
The field guide
146 styles, and how to spot each one.
Pricing
start free. go unlimited when you're hooked.
$0
- 3 identifications
- The full field guide
- Browse the map and open 3 places
- Your library and LifeList
$19.99 a year
- Unlimited identifications
- Every place on the map
- Ask Archie your own questions
- On the iPhone and the web
Already subscribed on your iPhone? Sign in here with the same account and Archie Unlimited works on the web too.
How accurate is it?
Archie gets the style right, or picks a close relative of it, on 88% of photos in our style test, which has a labeled photo for each of our first 100 styles. Buildings that mix styles or were heavily remodeled are the hardest.
For the exact building, in our latest test Archie named the right one on 18 of 20 photos of known buildings taken without location, and on all 10 taken with location. It named no wrong building. Archie would rather say nothing than guess: a name it can't check isn't shown, and you get the style alone.
How does Archie identify a building?
Archie looks for the exact building first, in a database of 826,291 buildings: landmarks and listed buildings across the US and Europe from Wikidata, plus the historic-building registers of New York City and 44 other US cities.
With the photo's location, it finds the buildings along the camera's line of sight. Without one, it reads the photo itself (signs, house numbers, the shape of the building) and suggests names. Each name is checked before you see it, against a reference photo of that building or against its address and position. A name that doesn't pass isn't shown.
When the database has no match, Archie searches the web, using what it read in the photo and where it was taken. The style comes from your photo, matched against 146 styles.
Do I need an account?
Not on the iPhone: identification works without one. Saving to your library, your LifeList and the map need one, and so does identifying a photo on this website. Sign in with Apple, Google or a code sent to your email. Everything you save shows up on every device you sign in on.
What happens to my photo and its location?
Your photo goes to Archie's server, which sends it to Google's Gemini to read it and, when Archie searches the web, to OpenRouter. It isn't kept on our servers unless it's saved to your library (photos you identify on this website are) or you report an identification as wrong.
The photo's exact position and direction are used only while that one request is handled, to find the buildings in front of the camera. A saved photo keeps where it was taken, rounded to about 11 meters.
What's free, and what does Archie Unlimited add?
Everyone gets 3 free identifications, and the field guide, your library and your LifeList are free to read. Archie Unlimited removes the limit, opens every place on the map and answers your own questions about a building. It's $19.99 a year with a 7-day free trial, or $49.99 once. Bought in the iPhone app, it works on this website too when you sign in with the same account.
Does it work outside the US?
The 146 styles cover buildings around the world, from Ancient Greek to Japanese and Mughal, and the building database covers the US and much of Europe. The map covers 135 US cities so far.
Is there an Android app?
Not yet. On Android, or on any computer, sign in on this website and upload a photo: Archie identifies it the same way and saves it to your library.