10 ways to research your home (or someone else’s)

10 ways to research your home – or someone’ else’s through online sources

Writer, librarian and podcaster Megan Cole sent me an email this week asking for some tips on researching the house where she used to live at 2856 West 5^th in Kitsilano. It was such a great question, that it’s my topic for this week’s blog post. Now that many resources are online, researching a house is a terrific way to spend your time in these long Pandemic days.

In some ways, researching your home is like an archaeological dig. But with a bit of patience you can find out who built your home, who lived there before you, who was murdered there, who died of a comfortable old age, perhaps, even, who’s haunting it now.

BC Assessment

The first thing I did was try to find the date it was built, and because it’s still standing, I went onto BC Assessment’s site and found out that it was built in 1912. BC Assessment also gives information on the price, square footage, where it fits in the neighbourhood, and how much your neighbour’s house is worth!

City Directories

If your house is no longer with us, the city directories will help you find a date when it was built. And, thanks to the VPL, B.C. is online from 1860 to 1955. After 1955 you can find directories at Vancouver Archives, the North Vancouver Museum and Archives or on microfilm at the VPL. The directories will tell you the name of past residents as well as their occupation. The directories also give information about the population of the time, the business climate and advertisements for businesses—it’s like a tourist brochure.

Google

Sometimes obvious is best. Simply google your address and see if anything interesting pops up. Often past sales will give you pictures and information on the owners. 

Databases

The best thing to happen in 2019 was the addition of the Vancouver Sun and Province to Newspapers.com. I searched #2856 and got 17 hits, mostly real estate ads. the unfortunate death of a nine-year-old boy who lived there in 1932, and the announcement of a wedding (below). Newspapers.com is behind a paywall, but so worth it if you do a lot of research. If you don’t, you can get access to hundreds of newspapers for free via Canada Newsstream via using your Vancouver Public Library card.

 

Vital Statistics

Birth, marriage and death certificates are online and more often than not, you can find copies of actual death certificates. This death certificate, for example, tells you that Errol Flynn died in Vancouver in 1959, that he’d been here six days, that he lived in New York City, was a motion picture actor from Tasmania and that he was married to Patrice Wymore (and that’s just the top half)

Photos

Don’t forget to search for photos—the City of Vancouver Archives, Special Collections at the VPL, the Jewish Museum of BC Archives, and BC Archives are just a few that are online. I plugged in the address for an image search on Google and this photo from 1985 taken by the CoV’s planning department came up.

Heritage Register

#2856 is on the Vancouver Heritage Register with a C listing. This won’t protect it from demolition, but it does give it some status. C: “Represents those buildings that contribute to the historic character of an area or streetscape, usually found in groupings of more than one building but may also be of individual importance.”

Vancouver Building Register

Nothing came up when I plugged in #2856 W. 5^th into the Vancouver Building Register, but it’s worth a shot, if your house is on it there is tons of  information and sources for residential and commercial buildings in Vancouver.

Building Permits

Heritage Vancouver took on the herculean task of transcribing the original handwritten registers from Vancouver Archives. Currently, they have more than 65,000 building permits online and includes such great information as name of architect and cost of the property. For #2856 the entry shows it was built at a cost of $2,400 in 1910 (a more precise date than BC Assessment) the builder/owner and the legal address.

Others

Other sources include the Census, which gives the house’s occupants names, occupations, salaries and relations to each other. If nothing else it will give you a whole new appreciation why you slog through the form every five years. Patrick Gunn at Heritage Vancouver mentions that Water permits are also super useful because they give details on owners and more accurate building dates. Unfortunately they’re not online so it requires a trip to Vancouver Archives. There are also heritage house tours that may have included your house, and don’t forget to check the archives in your area.

Also see:

Online Porn for History Nerds

Heritage Registers

City Directories