If you would like some aspect of your house’s history researched, we are happy to perform this service for you.

Here are some examples of the questions we typically answer for our clients:

• How old is my house? – city databases – which declare that your house was built in 1899 – are just about ALWAYS wrong; we are usually able to pinpoint when your house was built to the year.
• Who was my house’s architect? – often this information is still available with a little digging; we have generally discovered the name of the architects of our clients’ houses more than 90% of the time.
• Do photographs of my house exist from many years ago? – for many houses, photographs – or drawings – exist in newspapers, archives, and in other locations; we’ve tracked down numerous period photographs for our clients.
• Are there original architect’s drawings of my house? – for many houses, architectural drawings – as well as building permits, evidence of repair work, &c. – still exist within city archives.
• Can you help me to prove that my house – which sits within an historical district – originally had a stoop? – we do a lot of work for clients whose houses are governed by the rules of historic districts; these clients are often required to prove that a certain architectural details that they would like to return to the house – stoops, certain type windows, &c. – originally existed. We help them to prove that.
  
• Can you help me to figure out what part of my house is not original? – this information is nearly always available with a little sleuthing, and helps owners to determine what their house originally looked like and how it functioned.
• Can you tell me which business first operated out of our building? – this information is often available from perusing archived city directories as well as reviewing newspaper archives.
• Who owned my house and who lived in my house before me? – with the help of city archives, old census records, directories, newspaper archives, and other resources, we can tell the story of your house’s former owners and residents. In some cases, we will track down former owners and/or their descendants to discover their stories, pictures, and other information about your home.

“Brian is the real deal. After we bought our place, we had many questions and theories about the house but neither the time nor know-how to answer them. Brian not only answered our questions, but also gave us additional insights and valuable stories that made our house even more meaningful.” – 59 Patchen Ave., Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

To research any of these types of questions on your New York City home, we charge a base fee of $250. Research going beyond 3 hours will be charged at our flat rate of $75/hr. Upon consultation with you, we will provide you with an estimate.

If you’ve got questions about your house’s history, contact us and we can help you to get answers.