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House History Research at The New York Public Library: HOME

A Guide For Researching the Histories of NYC Residential Buildings

ABOUT

The image depicts a vintage urban street scene featuring several wooden buildings with clapboard siding. The buildings are tightly packed, revealing an aged architectural style with multiple stories and shuttered windows. The facades vary in shades of weathered wood tones. Two people are seated on chairs on the elevated stoop outside the first building on the left, suggesting a casual neighborhood atmosphere. Another set of two figures is visible sitting on the steps of the building in the middle. A large mural on the side of the building on the far right depicts a cartoon character next to the text "Spanjir New York." The street is quiet, with no visible vehicles or other people, accentuating the historical aspect of the scene.This guide is intended to help researchers interested in researching buildings in New York City. It includes information about the uses and availability of property maps, censuses, city directories, land conveyances, photographs, newspapers, published local histories, ephemera, and other archival and published sources available at The New York Public Library, and elsewhere in the Five Boroughs.

RESEARCH GOALS

This research guide is divided into sections that address common building research goals, including researching

  • Ownership: how to find identify the owners of a building.
  • Construction: when and by whom a building was commissioned to be built.
  • Design: identifying and researching the people that designed a building.
  • Residents: discovering who lived in a building.
  • Neighborhood history: what was the neighborhood like?

Preparation: before you start your research, you will need to find key data that will help you find the various records that describe the history of a building in NYC. For this you'll be looking at databases, maps, and photographs and other images.

This guide will include links to a selection of other building research guides and examples of building histories.

This guide is also intended as a supplement to the NYPL class Researching the History of Your New York City Home. See Genealogy Essentials for details of when the next class is.

Image: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. "Talman Street, #57" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1936.

NEW YORK CITY BUILDING RESEARCH RECORD FINDER

Reference Librarians

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Irma and Paul Milstein Division Reference Librarians
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Contact:
476 Fifth Avenue
(42nd St & Fifth Ave)
First Floor, Room 121
New York, NY 10018
212-930-0828
Website

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Accessibility for Print Disabilities

For researchers with print disabilities, the Library has resources and services available upon request. The following services are available:

Digitization of Select Research Materials

Researchers who are homebound or have a print disability or visual impairment can explore many of our research collections online and request digitization of specific items of interest. To request the digitization service, email accessibility@nypl.org. Please note that you must be a patron of the Andrew Heiskell Library. This digitization service only includes material belonging to the research collections and does not apply to branch/circulating collections. 

Screen Readers and Enlargers 

Every public PC at all New York Public Library locations is equipped with JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion softwares. 

Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library

The Andrew Heiskell Library offers popular reading materials in accessible audio and braille formats, as well as free membership to the Bookshare database of over one million accessible texts. It also offers individual coaching and a large variety of group workshops on topics related to accessible technology. Check the listings on our website, call 212-206-5400, or email talkingbooks@nypl.org for details. It also hosts many networking groups, resource fairs, writing workshops, accessible art workshops, book clubs, and other events. All are listed in the quarterly newsletter, available by email, website (text or audio), or over the phone.

For more information, see the Accessibility at NYPL page