I saw information a few weeks ago on how to get access to ancient New York City records of housing inspections long before the Department of Buildings even existed and successfully viewed a pdf image of a 1922 report on the tenement building I live in, complete with hand-drawn plan. But now I cannot find the directions. Does anyone know how to do this? It was not the standard Building Information Service, which is useful, but does not go back far enough. I think it was called an Initial Inspection card or something like that.


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  1. Many thanks for the responses. I needed the information to prove that our coop’s parking lot was approved, and there it was, plain as day, from 1957! This is a great resource for legal issues as well as history.

  2. It is under the HPD website not under DPB. It is called I-cards which is retreivable under the registration and violation history page.