Researching Your Old Building

Researching the history of your old building may seem challenging, but it can be a fascinating adventure.

Check out our blog post on how to research your home using only online resources!

The best source of information about your building is the building itself. How your building is assembled and its style can help you to determine an approximate date of its construction or major alterations. Use our architectural style guide and compare the form, layout, and details of your building to discern the style of your home. Keep in mind that houses are often altered and there may be a few surprises behind your walls! A historic image can be a great help in determining what your building may have looked like before any alterations. A good source for historic images in Portland are the 1924 Tax Photos available on Maine Historical Society's Maine Memory Network.

Other photo sources:

Many local buildings may have been documented in a historic resource survey. Consult local repositories, like Greater Portland Landmarks, that collect building histories or building plans to see if there is existing information on your building or street.

Other building history repositories:

Conduct a deed search. Many local deeds in Maine are available online, making it fairly to create a chronological list of the owners of your building. Start with your deed and trace the ownership history using the seller’s name and legal description of the property. Then find the seller’s deed and note whom they bought it from, working your way back to the original owner. A change in the value of a property can mean a building was added to the parcel or an existing building was expanded. Sometimes a property will pass from one owner to the next through a will. In that case, probate records are helpful. Consult your county to see if deed and probate records are available online.

Consult a map. Historic maps may provide information about your building, its previous owners, and its past uses. Maps also provide context for the history of your neighborhood. Maps are available at several local libraries and historical societies, including the Portland Public Library, the Osher Map Library, and the Maine Historical Society.

Maps available online include:

Other maps are available online at the Osher Map Library, the UNH Library, and Historic Mapworks.

Learn more about who lived or worked in your building. Once you have determined the owners of your building, you can learn more about them by consulting city directories and United States Census records. These documents usually record a person's occupation, place of work, and place of residence. You can also learn more about the families that lived in your home through vital records (records of birth, marriage, and death), family histories, and cemetery records. Keep in mind that alterations to homes occupied by the same family for several generations often took place when a house changed hands due to an owner's death or the marriage of a son or daughter. You may be able to determine when an addition or stylistic change may have occurred using this information.

Portland City Directories are available upon request at Greater Portland Landmarks, as well as the Portland Room at the Portland Public Library and the Maine Historical Society. Vital records may also be available at your town’s historical society.

Sources for vital records:

If your building is substantial in size and style, it might have been designed by an architect. If you are fortunate enough to learn the name of the architect that designed your building, there are several biographical sites with information on prominent local architects.

Many buildings were built based on plans in architectural publications or catalogues in the 19th and early 20th century. In the 19th century, building books by Asher Benjamin and Andrew Jackson Downing were very popular. The most well-known of the 20th century catalogues are those advertising the Craftsman kit homes sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalogs and more information on these and other kit homes can be found at numerous digital archives.

Resources for architect biographies:

Additional information can be found at the Maine Historical Society Library at 489 Congress Street, the Portland Room of the Portland Public Library on Monument Square, the City of Portland Assessor’s Office at 389 Congress Street, and in the records at the Cumberland County Register of Deeds, 142 Federal Street, Portland.

The National Museum of American History developed a helpful guide, House Detective, Finding History in Your Home, to help owners learn more about their building's history.

Once you’ve researched your house, share your home’s historic nature with a Historic Marker through Landmarks’ Historic Marker Program.