National Trust Images
Sometimes (as you know, Bob) I daydream about writing historical fiction, and sometimes that involves reading about old houses. When that happens, inevitably it turns out that some of the houses I'm reading about are owned and maintained by the National Trust (UK), and so sometimes I look those houses up on the National Trust website.
What I only recently realized is that they also have a whole site for images:
http://www.nationaltrustimages.org.uk/
And they're organized by keyword, so you can look up a specific property - but you could also search, say, "16th," and get back pages upon pages of details of 16th-c architecture: paneling, plasterwork, ceiling decorations, all sorts of things. It's actually a bit overwhelming, but I've been having fun with it, and think it could be a good resource - especially if you, like me, have difficulty with imagining what things looked like.
What I only recently realized is that they also have a whole site for images:
http://www.nationaltrustimages.org.uk/
And they're organized by keyword, so you can look up a specific property - but you could also search, say, "16th," and get back pages upon pages of details of 16th-c architecture: paneling, plasterwork, ceiling decorations, all sorts of things. It's actually a bit overwhelming, but I've been having fun with it, and think it could be a good resource - especially if you, like me, have difficulty with imagining what things looked like.