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January 19, 2008
How do you research your house's history?
Anybody had any luck tracing the history of an old pile in Brooklyn? Would really appreciate any suggestions.
I think I've found all I can find online (Bklyn Eagle, etc.) and I'm going to start with the DOB on Joralemon Street, hoping they might have some plans, info on alterations, etc. But what I really want to know is who lived in the place; is the Dept of Finance where they record deeds? The house is in a historic district; has anybody had any luck doing research on an individual house at the Landmarks Commish?
Many thanks for any help.
Comments
The deeds are recorded in the registrars office.
If you need further info dial 311.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 19, 2008 11:18 AM
Being a genealogist myself.... I would say looking through the 1905, 1925 cencus would be very informative as far as the personal information regarding those who previously resided in your house. The records can be viewed at the Kings County Clerks Office in Brooklyn.
Good Luck
Posted by: Giovanna at January 19, 2008 12:22 PM
How do you access the federal census for those years without going to Washington?
Posted by: guest at January 19, 2008 1:51 PM
Thanks for suggestions--the registrar actually has a pretty amazing online presence, allowing you to view deeds and mortgages! Unfortunately it only goes back to 1966 online, so I'll be heading down there next week.
Posted by: Rehab at January 19, 2008 1:56 PM
Since your house is in an Historic District, you should be able to buy a copy of the Designation Report from the LPC That will tell you when your hopuse was built and who designed it.
When I first bought my own house (long before my neighborhood's designation as an HD) I was able to establish when it was built by looking through old Platt maps at the Long Island [now Brooklyn] Historic Society's library. I was able to get the names of previous inhabitants from Brooklyn City Directories [predecessors to phone books] at the same library.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at January 19, 2008 4:50 PM
Oh, there you are again, Bob: Thanks for writing.
May I ask: Should the owner of an individual house in an historic district expect the report for that district to have substantive info about his own house?
I know who designed and built it (W.H.Gaylor, who went on to become NYC building commish under Mayor Seth Low in the late 1800s); got that info in a permit from LPC for some work we're doing. Does the LPC go into any more depth on individual properties within a district? Would be nice to know before buying $50 report.
Thanks also for your props for the Brooklyn Historical Society; wasn't expecting to find much there, and now will add it to my search.
--Rehab
Posted by: Rehab at January 20, 2008 12:50 AM
Rehab,
About the only thing you're likely to find about a specific house in the LPC Designation Report, beyond it's date, architect, and builder, is a detailed architectural description. Still, if I can generalize from the LPC report on my own PLG-HD, the neighborhood-wide historic and architectural information is pretty interesting and might be worth the high price.
It would be great if the LPC could have PDF versions of designation reports on their website.
In addition to the Bklyn. Hist. Soc. library, I've heard that the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library has a lot of information, but I've never used it.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at January 20, 2008 11:05 AM
Rehab, I second Bob's recommendation of the LPC report for your area. My house in Crown Heights is not special, architecturally, and my block not particularly remarkable either, compared to many others, but I found the description of my house and the others in the group of 4, and on the block to be really interesting. Even better was a very detailed history of Crown Heights (back to the Lenape people), the growth and importance of the area over the years, and tales of the people who helped shaped Crown Heights. Since you are in Clinton Hill, the Pratts, Pfizer's and other luminaries should be fascinating.
Reading the descriptions of each block was interesting, as well, as you could do a timeline on the development of each block, and trace the economic growth of the neighborhood in the architectural styles and mores of the time. Hmmm, I'd like to read this myself. Since I'm a history and architecture geek, I find this irresistable, and I hope you would as well.
I think, I'm not sure, however, that a copy of the report is in the main Library at Grand Army Plaza. If so, you could read before you buy, or at least copy the pages on your house or block.
Posted by: Montrose Morris at January 20, 2008 5:36 PM
I spoke too soon when I regretted the absense of free PDF versions of LPC designation reports. The LPC website has some recent reports and refers you to the Neighborhood Preservation Center website which isijn the process of puttin up PDFs of older reports. Unfortunately the 1981 Clinton Hill report doesn't seem to be there [but double check--I might be doing somethijng wrong).
This will not help the OP, but my own neighborhood designation report (PLG) from 1979 IS there:
Posted by: Bob Marvin at January 20, 2008 8:13 PM
Thanks, Montrose and Bob-- the report sounds like great reading! Going downtown to dig a little deeper later this week. I'll report back if I have anything good.
Posted by: Rehab at January 21, 2008 12:22 AM
Just went through this exercise myself, so here's what I found (repeating some of the above):
(1) Federal census
(2) City directories
(3) Deeds and mortgages
(4) Tax assessment rolls
(5) Wills / death records
(6) Newspapers
(7) Old maps, esp. fire insurance
(8) Online resources
(9) tax photo
Census is available online through 1930 at ancestry.com. They offer free 2-week trials. You can also get free access at Brooklyn Public Library's Brooklyn Collection room.
City directories are available at BPL, New York Public Library, etc. Searchable for many years at ancestry.com.
Deeds / mortgages are available at the City Register on the first floor of the Municipal Bldg at 210 Joralemon (left of entrance). Just walk right in and look up your block & lot number in the index books, which will give you the liber (i.e. book) and page number where the actual documents were recorded. Most of the people on the floor are professional title searchers and are often happy to give you pointers (and are much more knowledgeable about the books than the registrar employees). Libers for about the past 50 years are located on the main floor; before that, head to the second floor to the microfilm room.
Tax assessment rolls are especially helpful if there was ever commercial use in your building. Located on microfilm at the Municipal Archives in Manhattan going back to 1866 for Brooklyn. (Anyone know of a source for pre-1866 tax records for Brooklyn?)
Wills are located at the Surrogates Court, in the Supreme Court building (enter on the north side - 2 Johnson Street). Brooklyn Genealogy (see below) has a link that tells you everything.
You can search the burial records at Green-Wood cemetery which will help piece together families who might have lived in your house, date of deaths, etc.
Newspapers: google the New York Times site to search their archives. Visit the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives (1841-1902) at the BPL website and search.
Maps: Sanborn maps are available at BPL. NYPL has many maps online and viewable in high resolution in their Digital Collection.
Online: just google your address, prior residents/owners, etc. Keep in mind that street names and address schemes may have changed.
This site has tons of info:
http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com
Tax photo: order your c.1940 tax photo from the Municipal Archives
Posted by: guest at January 21, 2008 11:19 AM
Also, this page by Christopher Gray, who writes the Streetscapes column in the New York Times real estate section, pretty much sums up the info I posted this morning:
www.nysoclib.org/building_history.html
It's Manhattan-centric but many of the sources/methodologies are the same.
You might want to peruse some of the individual property landmark designation reports by the LPC that are on their website, or some historical studies done by other public agencies (e.g. the Duffield Houses reports) to check the footnotes for types of sources/methodologies. This type of info is summarized by LPC at:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/faqs/research_resource.shtml
Posted by: guest at January 21, 2008 6:57 PM
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