Buy An Old Photograph Of A NYC Building

This is one excellent way the city is using old tax records: The city took photographs of every house and building in the five boroughs between 1939 and 1941, and now these photographs are for sale. Go to the NYC Department of Records Tax Photographs page and learn how you can get a picture - you need to know the exact lot number and official block number of the building (of course that information isn't searchable online yet; the DOR says you can use their archives of maps and mentions the word "microfilm"...or you can add $5 if you want the DOR to search for it). This seems like a great gift idea, at $30-45 a pop (not including shipping and handling) for that someone who loves pre WW2 buildings.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 4, 2004 5:41 PM

Comments [rss]

Ann

The (IHR) provides resources for historians. These resources include online articles, free event advertising, MA/PhD study, training courses, an open-access library and more.

Mark

History of the United States of America.

Drew

A few months ago I ordered the tax photo for my building on MacDougal and it came out beautifully. Quite a difference between then and now (obviously), at least as far as ground-level businesses. Although when I bought the photo from the city it was $25, I guess they hiked the price.

Drew

Jason

But you can find your block and lot numbers online!

jojo

I know that url is complicated, so another way is to just find the Department of Buildings' main page, and look for the link to "Building Information Search."

jojo

You can get the block and lot number at the Department of Buildings' web site, at:

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bispi00.jsp?static=true&s=F9A039D2DDDD95A7DC727EAF38579F89

On the first line, search by borough, house number and street. The block and lot number should be somewhere in one of the forms that comes up. If it's not on the first page, do a little poking around.