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How
Old is My House?
By
Betty Marvin, Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey Have
you ever asked yourself this question, but haven’t known where to go to find
the answer? If so, the following information will help guide you. The
challenge of finding information on the history of your house (or any building
in Oakland) may be easy or complex, depending on a number of factors: the age of
the building, the number of times it has changed ownership or been altered, and
how tenacious you are. To accommodate the most challenging of situations, this
brochure provides a detailed description of how to use the resources in the
Public Library’s Oakland History Room (OHR) and the Planning Department’s
Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey (OCHS). If what follows seems a bit daunting,
don’t lose heart. OHR and OCHS staff will help you through the process. Step
1: Observation
How
old does the building look? Is
it an 1890s Victorian, a 1920s bungalow, a 1940s ranch house? The City Planning
Department’s Rehab Right (available at the library and bookstores), among other
books, can help identify styles. In general, if your building appears older than
about 1910, start at the OHR, which has early tax records; if later, head for
OCHS, for building permits. Where
is the building located? If it
is in Central or West Oakland or Adams Point or certain other neighborhood
centers, you can usually save work by consulting OCHS, which has researched and
evaluated all buildings in these study areas. Over 34 completed volumes of the
Survey, available for reference at the OHR and OCHS, contain State Historic
Resources Inventory forms on the most notable buildings and districts. You may
have found your answer here. If not, continue to step 2. Step
2: Sanborn Maps
Look
at the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Oakland, held by the OHR for
approximately 1882 to 1951 and by OCHS for 1912 to the present. Each Sanborn map
page depicts an area of about six blocks, giving the location of buildings and
some structural information. Sanborn maps were updated periodically after their
initial printings. The updates are pasted over the printed page and indicate a
new structure, alteration, or change of use. This is also the easiest place to
find a building’s pre-1911 address. Make sure that you are looking at the
right building, and note its orientation and its distance from the nearest cross
streets. You will need this information for the next step. Step
3: Construction Date
Is
the building pre-1925? Consult the Oakland
City Tax Assessment Block Books, which the OHR has for 1877 to 1925 (plus
tax rolls earlier). The block books contain maps showing property ownership on
each block. By comparing assessment figures on a given lot from one year to the
next, you can determine when a building was built. A marked rise in the
assessment for improvements (often marked “#” or “Imps”) indicates
construction activity. It is usually easiest to start in 1925 to determine
volume block and lot, and work backwards. Is
it post-1905? Except in
areas not annexed until later, every building from late 1905 on should have a City
Building Permit. Permits are on microfiche at the City’s Building
Department (1330 Broadway, 2nd floor): ask to see your Address
Fiche. For buildings older than about 1930, however, this fiche is likely to
have the permits for alterations but not for the original construction. OCHS
(one floor up) has permit finding aids and the Permit
Ledger Books which give date, names of owner and builder and sometimes
architect, description, and construction cost. For buildings later than about
1914 you can then return to the Building Department to see if there is
additional information filed by permit number in Fiche Tray 7. OCHS also has Contract
Notices with permit-like information for some pre-1905 buildings, and
information about architects and builders. Was
it built between 1905-1925? For buildings from the years when building permits and block
books overlap, it is a good idea to check both, to verify your conclusions.
Permits will also document alterations to earlier buildings, and give additional
owners’ names. Step
4: Biography
With
owners’ names from the block books and building permits, go to the Oakland
City Directories, containing names, addresses, and occupations of the adult
(employed, male, householding: varies by year) inhabitants of the city.
Published from 1869 to 1943 (plus 1967 and 1969), the directories can establish
date and duration of residency. The OHR has a complete set; OCHS has a few at
roughly 5-year intervals. The
OHR also offers other biographical data. Through newspaper clippings,
obituaries, indexes to county and city histories, and voting registers, profiles
of the residents can be formed. Additional
Sources of Information *
U.S. Censuses are available at the Main Library’s Newspaper Room and at
other sites including the Mormon Temple, Bancroft Library, Sutro Library, and
the California Geneological Society. *
Photographs of Oakland buildings and their occupants can occasionally be
found at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO; 510-597-5053),
the Oakland Museum History Department (510-238-3842), U.C. Berkeley’s Bancroft
Library (510-642-6481) and Environmental Design Library (510-642-4818), the
California Historical Society in San Francisco (415/357-1848), and other public
and private collections.
House
Search – Oakland History Room The
OHR staff will assist you in filling out this form. Address
of property _____________________________ Estimated
date __________________________________ Annexation
date ________________________________ Sanborn
page ___________________________________ Old
address ____________________________________ Block
number: pre-1906
_________________________ Block
number: post-1906
________________________ Tract
name(s) ___________________________________ Block
books: Vol. ________________________________ Lot
number(s) __________________________________ Year
__________________________________ Owner
________________________________ Land
(if shown) $______________________ Improvements
$________________________ Personal
property $______________________ Reverse
directories: 1936_______________
1967_____________ 1969_____________ City Directories______________________________________ Indexes:___Local
History Catalog___Vertical Files___Donogh Real Estate Files
House
Search –
Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey/Building Department Existing OCHS forms/files_______________________________ Building permits ______________________________________
Oakland
History Room, Main Library: 125 14th St., 2nd floor; 510-238-3222.
Hours: M-T 10-5:30, Oakland
Cultural Heritage Survey: 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 3330; 510-238-6879.
Hours: M-F 1-5, variable Building
Permits: 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, 2nd floor; 510-238-3443.
Hours: M-T, Th-F 8-4, W 9-4 ©
1997-2001 Temescal History Project. For more information call 510-653-7190. |
