Finding early or original plans, drawings and photos of your house.

Finding copies of the original plans, old drawing or views or your house is not easy to do, and you will be very lucky to uncover anything at all. But you can also be pleasantly surprised.

The best place to start is with former owners. They would be more likely to have photos of your house from 10, 20, or 30 years. There are however, a few public collections where you can look for photos and plans.

Many records may be available on microfilm along with the permit at the local or state Department of Buildings. Only the owner of the house or his/her proxy can obtain plans from the Department of Buildings.

Checking with larger organizations, in Ridge Historical Society's case - the Chicago Historical Society, may uncover small collections of plans for older structures, that are usually indexed by architect.

Older photographs of individual houses are generally not available, but streetscape views of some blocks can be found. Visit the Prints and Photographs Collection of your local, county, and state libraries. Don't forget to check online and local computer databases for newspapers, magazines, or other media resources; especially if your home is named!

This section is republished with permission, slightly modified from a Chicago Focus to reference general links and resources for identifying and tracing the history of your home!

Special Thanks to: The Ridge Historical Society of Chicago, IL

The Ridge Historical Society website is a free resource for students, historians and anyone interested in the area history. But in order to keep it going, please consider giving back, whether as an individual or an organization, through one of the following means, according to your financial ability.

To donate or become a member click here.