Baldwin Street a Photogenic Optical Illusion

Dunedin’s Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world, has become an unlikely tourist attraction, with people sharing photos on social media of a bizarre optical illusion, the Daily Mail reports.

When photos of houses on the street are taken on an angle, it creates the illusion that they are all sinking into the ground.

People regularly flock to the street to take photos with the properties that appear lopsided and upload them to Instagram. Residents in the street are used to people puffing up and down the steep street to take photos.

The stretch of road is a short, straight street that is a little under 350m long. It runs at a gradient of 1:2.86m, which means for every 2.86m horizontally, the elevation changes by 1m.

It is also renowned for its annual running races and the Cadbury Jaffa Race where thousands of red chocolates are released at the top of the hill to raise money for charity.

Original article by Ashleigh Davis, Daily Mail, July 21, 2016.