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HM Land Registry and the Price Paid record, the 1841–1921 census and electoral registers, the listed-buildings register, the London Metropolitan Archives, Goad fire-insurance plans, and parish records reaching back centuries — a guide to tracing a London house.
May 30, 2026 · 5 min read
King County parcel data with real year-built, the Recorder's LandmarkWeb deed search, the Seattle Public Library and Puget Sound Regional Archives, Sanborn maps, and the census — how to trace a Seattle house from a Ballard bungalow to a Capitol Hill foursquare.
May 30, 2026 · 4 min read
England, Scotland, and Wales keep their records differently. HM Land Registry and Registers of Scotland, the three listed-building registers (NHLE, Historic Environment Scotland, Cadw), the census, and parish records — the GB-wide picture for tracing a house.
May 29, 2026 · 4 min read
OpenDataPhilly's parcel data, the Department of Records deed search, the Free Library and the Philadelphia City Archives, the famous Hexamer insurance surveys, Sanborn maps, and the census — how to trace a Philadelphia rowhouse back to the colonial grid.
May 29, 2026 · 4 min read
A step-by-step guide to every free source — ACRIS deeds, PLUTO, the 1940s and 1980s tax photos, the census, old newspapers, the NYPL map division, and landmark status — for tracing who built your house and who lived in it.
May 28, 2026 · 5 min read
The Base Adresse Nationale and the cadastre, the Archives de Paris and the état civil rebuilt after the 1871 fires, Gallica for historic press, and the sommier foncier — a guide to tracing a Parisian house through Haussmann's rebuilding and beyond.
May 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Denver's combined city-and-county assessor and Clerk & Recorder, the Denver Public Library's Western History collection, Sanborn maps, the census, and the subdivision plats that built the streetcar suburbs — a practical guide to tracing a Denver house.
May 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Deeds tell you who owned a house. To learn who actually lived there — the families, the boarders, the occupations and origins — you need the census, city directories, newspapers, and a little detective work. Here's how.
May 27, 2026 · 4 min read
The free 1901 and 1911 censuses — a model of open data — Griffith's Valuation, the Tithe Applotment Books, the Registry of Deeds, and the records lost in the 1922 Public Record Office fire: a guide to tracing a Dublin house against the grain of Irish archival loss.
May 27, 2026 · 4 min read
Fulton County parcel data, Georgia's statewide GSCCCA deed index, the Atlanta History Center and the Kenan Research Center, Sanborn maps, the census, and the deed restrictions that shaped a segregated city — how to trace an Atlanta house.
May 27, 2026 · 4 min read
The Cook County recorder for deeds, the city's building-footprint open data for year-built and units, Chicago's deep newspaper archives, and Sanborn fire-insurance maps — a practical guide to tracing a Chicago house.
May 26, 2026 · 3 min read
The BAG building registry — with real construction years — the Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Delpher's historic newspapers, and the Kadaster: a guide to tracing an Amsterdam canal house or brick gable back through the centuries.
May 26, 2026 · 4 min read
The District's combined assessment and Recorder of Deeds, the building permit database, the DC History Center and the Washingtoniana collection, Baist's real-estate atlases, Sanborn maps, and the census — a guide to tracing a DC rowhouse.
May 26, 2026 · 4 min read
The LA County Assessor parcel record, the Registrar-Recorder for deeds, Sanborn maps, the Los Angeles Public Library photo and map collections, and building permits — how to trace the history of an LA house.
May 25, 2026 · 4 min read
The Franciscan Cadastre of 1817, the French cadastre, the Florentine catasto of 1427, and the parish registers — why European house history reaches back further than American, and what those records actually let you find.
May 25, 2026 · 4 min read
The City of Toronto open-data portal, Ontario's OnLand land registry, the free census to 1931, the Toronto Public Library and City of Toronto Archives, fire-insurance plans, and the Toronto Star archive — a guide to tracing a Toronto house.
May 25, 2026 · 4 min read
The Suffolk Registry of Deeds and statewide masslandrecords.com, the City of Boston assessing data, the Boston Public Library's superb map collection, and Sanborn maps — how to trace a Boston house back to the beginning.
May 24, 2026 · 4 min read
The 1817 Franciscan Cadastre, the Matriken parish books, the Wien Geschichte Wiki, and ANNO's historic newspapers — a guide to tracing a Viennese house from the Ringstraße back to the Habsburg era.
May 24, 2026 · 4 min read
Vancouver's open-data portal, BC's LTSA land registry, the free census to 1931, the City of Vancouver Archives and VanMap, fire-insurance plans, and the heritage register — how to trace a Vancouver house from a Kitsilano character home to an East Van bungalow.
May 24, 2026 · 4 min read
Grantor and grantee, consideration, mortgages and satisfactions, the gaps that mean an inheritance — a guide to reading a chain of title like a historian, and an honest account of what it can and can't tell you.
May 23, 2026 · 4 min read
Australia's Trove and New Zealand's Papers Past are among the best free digitised newspaper archives in the world — and they're a house historian's secret weapon. How to use them, and an honest word on whose history the record begins with.
May 23, 2026 · 4 min read
Tax photos, library and historical-society collections, newspaper morgues, real-estate listings, aerial surveys, and Google Street View's own archive — a practical guide to finding a picture of your house as it used to be, and the honest odds for each source.
May 23, 2026 · 4 min read
Drawn to help insurers price risk, the Sanborn maps accidentally recorded American cities building by building — material, height, use, footprint — across decades. Here's what they are, how to read the colors, and where to find them free.
May 22, 2026 · 3 min read
The Register of Sasines reaching back to 1617, ScotlandsPeople, Historic Environment Scotland's listed buildings, the valuation rolls, and the National Records of Scotland — why a New Town flat or an Old Town tenement is unusually traceable.
May 22, 2026 · 4 min read
Before the phone book, American cities published annual directories listing every adult by name, address, and occupation — and many printed a street-by-street section you can read like a census of your block. How to use them, and where to find them free.
May 22, 2026 · 4 min read
The Harris County Appraisal District parcel record, the Harris County Clerk for deeds, the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Sanborn maps, and the census — a practical guide to tracing a Houston house.
May 21, 2026 · 4 min read
Read enough deeds, censuses, and maps across a single block and the big forces of American history — immigration, the streetcar, redlining, white flight, gentrification — stop being abstractions. Here's what the records show, and how to read them honestly.
May 20, 2026 · 4 min read