Intentions to Build & Permit Records

Among the many research resources available for house research at the City Archives are the Intention to Build and Building Permit records. In total, the records cover the ninety-year period from 1860 to 1950. Recently, the City Archives obtained approximately 137,000 building permit records from the city's Department of Inspections and Standards that now allow access to permit files between the years 1908-1910 and 1914-1950. At this time the records can only be accessed by owner's name.

Scope and Content
Our collection of building permit records currently covers the period from 1860 to 1950. These records were generated by three departments of city government; the Board of Aldermen, the City Engineer's Office of the Department of Public Works, and the Department of Inspection and Standards. The Aldermen Intention to Build (1860-71) records are in 5 boxes and organized by date of application. The City Engineer's Building Records (1873-78) are organized by date and there is a card index accessible by street address. After 1878 these records appear in 66 bound volumes covering the period 1878-1946). These records list the name and address of the owner, street line and grade, date of filing, type of improvement to be constructed, property location, and in some instances, the builder and estimated cost of construction. There is also a card index accessible by street address.

Recently, the archives acquired approximately 137,000 building permit records from the Department of Inspections and Standards. These are stored in 93 boxes and cover the period, 1908-1910, 1914-1950. These applications can contain data on as many as 32 different points of information on a property such as architect, house dimensions, use of building, number of units (including change in number of units), floor area of old building, etc. Some applications contain attached inspection reports. These records can currently be accessed by a card file organized by owner's name. Plans are being developed to create a database searchable by street address, plat/lot, date, and owner's name.

These records are currently divided into three record groups:

Board of Aldermen Papers
Intentions to Build, 1860-August 1871
Size: 5 boxes
Organization: By date of intention
RG 101

Department of Public Works, City Engineer's Office
Intentions to Build, June 1873 - April 1878
Size; 5 boxes
Organization: Card index organized by street address.

Intentions to Build, April 1878 - March 1946
Size: 66 volumes
Organization: Card index by street address
RG 134

Department of Inspection and Standards
Building Permits, 1908-1910, 1914-1950
Size: 93 linear feet
Organization: Card index. Alphabetical by owner's name.
RG 138