Be A House Detective

The History Detectives Team | July 24, 2009 10:33 AM | 2 Responses

Are you curious about the history of a building? Maybe you want to know the story lying within the walls of your home?

Your inquiry into the history of a building will pass through two stages, the first is investigation. Track down any clues, or quirks, related to the physical structure, construction or architecture, which can help you focus your investigation. For example, the year the building was constructed, any changes that have been made, names of the architect or builders, materials and cost.

Start your investigation from the ground up, check brickwork in the foundations or basement. Different brick sizes are a sign that your building was constructed in two cycles. Make sure you check inside the fuse box, on the sidewalk or your address plate for a manufacturing date. Remember the further you are from the original city centre, the younger your house could be. In a particularly old building you may want to consider a Timber Dating Analysis to determine age.

Investigating the local history of the area can help you to place your building in context. Newspapers from the construction year can shed light on some of the issues that may have shaped the way your building was constructed.

The second stage is corroboration, where you will have to collect and study facts that either support or disagree with the theories you have generated in the investigation stage.

You should be able to get a lot of reliable information from written documents relating to your house. These include researching land records (grants, deeds, mortgages, leases and tax records), building permits and contacting the contractor for work documents. More information can be found in our Building Background Checklist and Property Search page. We also have several useful online resources you can use: More Leads.

Follow every lead that you can and back up your findings, there are a range of sources you can use to support your research. These are outlined in our Checklist and they include: fire insurance maps, rate booklets, architect and appraiser records, maps, photographs, county histories and old city directories.

It is important to consider the personal history behind a building; who lived or worked there, where did they come from, what happened to them? If you can, try and gain access to any oral histories, estate records, personal papers or census records.

Leave no stone unturned and chase every lead to the end and hopefully you will be able to get an insight into the story hidden within the walls of your home.

Test how much you know about researching property. Take our Property Proficiency Quiz now.

Have you investigated a building? Do you have any tips? We would like to know. Let us know in the form below.

Find Out More:

Detective Techniques - Building Background

Property Proficiency Quiz

Checklist

More Leads

Comments

I need to find out if the Old US 40 federal highway went west from Verdi, NV, which is several miles west of Reno, NV. This would make a right turn (going west) from 3rd St. which was old route 40 on to Bridge St. in Verdi. This would turn into the Dog Valley Road and on to Truckee, CA. This is only about 24 miles from Verdi to Truckee. The rough mountain road is about 6 miles. I have copies of a 1926 and a 1927 Rand McNally map and an original 1928 George Cram Atlas that show Old US 40 on the Dog Valley Route. After 1928 US 40 went south from Verdi, NV to Truckee,CA as does the Interstate 80 route does today. This would be the Truckee River Canyon Route. I was told the Old US 40 never went on the Dog Valley Route. I'm not on the internet, but you can call me at 314-291-6590. Thank you very much, Larry A. Paule

Posted by Larry A. Paule on August 2, 2009 3:12 PM

a few years back i was digging footings near the old existing footings and two and a half foot down i found two headstones with mother and father on them but no names or dates.have searched all i know how but have never found out who is burried in my yard.can you help solve this mystery?

Posted by terry olney on July 27, 2009 10:08 PM

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