House History Research at The New York Public Library: OWNERSHIP

Property deeds on microfilm: Prior to the 1960s, you will need to visit the borough City Register (or the Office of the County Clerk, in Staten Island) to look at indexes and deeds on microfilm.  You will need to consult the Block and Lot Indexes and then check the Liber and Page numbers listed in the Index to access full land conveyance records. Land conveyances and their availability across the five boroughs of New York City are described in more detail in this separate blog post. Make a note of the owner of your building  listed in ACRIS, to help you begin your search of the Block and Lot Indexes.

You can compile the information in the form of a Chain of title, "the historical record of ownership transfers of a specific piece of property." The chain of title can be used as a jumping off point for researching the owners of the property - who they were, what they did for a living, whether or not they were owner occupiers, and so on.

Collections are sometimes relocated. so always check the website of  the City Register's Office about the current availability of property deeds, block and lot indexes, deed abstracts, and grantor and grantee indexes, in print and on microfilm in New York.

UPDATE: Manhattan and Brooklyn print indexes have been moved to the Queens County City Register's Office.

You can also contact the Division of Land Records using their electronic form.

Bronx County Office: 3030 3rd Ave, 2nd floor Bronx, NY 10455
Kings County Office: 210 Joralemon Street, 2nd floor Brooklyn NY 11201
New York County Office: 66 John Street, 13th floor New York, NY 10038
Queens County Office: 144-06 94th Avenue, Jamaica, Queens 11435

Property deeds for Staten Island (Richmond County) are kept at the Office of the Richmond County Clerk.

Above: Land conveyance witnessing the sale of Block 593, Lot 28, Manhattan by George Hillen (Grantor) to Carsten Gerken (Grantee): April 17th, 1873, Liber: 1250, Page: 198

A further update regarding older property deeds in the City of New York.

• All property records pre-1966 related to Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan, appear to now be located at the Queens Consolidated Library / Land Records Research Library (QCL/LRRL) at the Queens City Register Office, 144-06 94th Avenue, Jamaica, NY 11435. The DOF offers an appointment form. For patrons looking for pre-1966 deeds that are not available in the New York Land Records collection at Family Search, we recommend emailing a link to this form.

• For Richmond County property records are located at the Richmond County Clerk’s office, which also has its own online “Land Documents Search” that dates back to 1945. For pre-1945 records not on FamilySearch, we would also recommend patrons submit the appointment form.

• Queens deeds and indexes are not on FamilySearch, and are only located in NYPL collections up to 1850 on microfilm.

• In 2022, the City Register posted an update online: “Records prior to 1966 are available on microfilm. Records are also available in our land records ledgers located in the Land Records Research Library located in Queens.” 

The New York State Land Title Association was provided a more detailed update by the Department. of Finance in February, 2022: that the Manhattan and Bronx City Register offices are permanently closed, and all records (print and microfilm), have been moved to the QCL/LRRL.

April 2024

Real estate sections in historic newspapers sometimes contain news about the construction and sale of property, especially if your building is more recent — The New York Public Library has many newspaper titles. In addition to this, trade papers may contain information about a building's construction — the Real Estate Record (1868-1922), digitized by Columbia University, is a particularly useful example, that includes abstracts of deeds, mortgage information liens, and more.

Historical newspapers, then as now, included news about real estate, and are described in detail in the following research guides

• Newspapers in Genealogy Research

Above: New York Herald “Building Prospects.” (1877) (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)

"“Have you $20? Have you $50?” reads the invitation for real estate developers, prospective home owners, investors, and speculators to bid on undeveloped lots in the Eastchester section of the Bronx in July 1920. The pamphlet, distributed to interested parties by the auctioneer Joseph P. Day, contains maps, birds-eye views, and descriptions of the property, a broad swath of land poised on the brink of development."

Censuses

A number of censuses, state and federal, describe property ownership. The following censuses ask if head of household owns their home:

1940 US Federal Census

• Question 4: Home owned or rented?
• Question 5: Value of Home, or monthly rental

1930 US Federal Census

• Question 7: Home owned or rented?
• Question 8: Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented.

1920 US Federal Census

• Question 7: Home owned or rented?
• Question 8: If owned free or mortgaged?

1910 US Federal Census: "Ownership of home"

• Question 26: Owned or rented?
• Question 27: Owned free or mortgaged?

1900 US Federal Census: "Ownership of home"

• Question 24: Owned or rented?
• Question 25: Owned free or mortgaged?

1890 US Federal Census lost.

1880 US Federal Census: no real estate questions.

1850 / 1860 / 1870

• Question: Value of real estate owned.

Though the address is not always described state censuses may include information or clues about home ownership. 

For instance:

1855 New York State Census

• Question 2: Of what material [dwelling] unit built.
• Question 3: Value
• Question 20: Owners of land.

Above right, and below: U.S. Federal Census, 1900, NY, NY, Manhattan, ED 100, 10B. This excerpt from the census includes, on the far righthand side along from Carsten Gerken's name - far left - the letter "O," denoting that he owns the property he lives in (135 Waverly Place), and the letter "F" declares he owns that property outright.