Here are the steps to go through to find the history of your house or building at the Library.
Buildings, Places and Landmarks Index
The first place to start at the library is this card catalogue index that has been maintained by librarians for more than 40 years. Look up an address and find out if that house or building has a City of London heritage designation or has been mentioned in some key resources, including:
- Annual Geranium Heritage House Tour booklets
- Local newspapers and magazines
- Local architectural books
If it has been mentioned, we will then help you find that article or book at the library. This index can also searched online at the Ivey Family London Room Digital Collections.
Register of Cultural Heritage Resources for London
Created by the City, this book lists over 5,900 houses and buildings with their construction date, architectural style and rank by heritage value.
Vernon's City Directories
Published annually, city directories are a fantastic place to start to discover which businesses were in your building or who lived in your house. Search by address to find out the name of the occupant. Then look up that name in the personal names section to find their occupation. Microfilm: 1856-1980. Paper: 1981-2013. Vernon Directories Limited of Hamilton published the London city directory from 1907 until the final edition in 2013. The directories also included Middlesex County for the following years: 1864-65, 1868-69, 1871-72, 1875, 1880-81, 1881-82, 1883, 1886-1925. Directories for 1872-73, 1875, 1881-82, 1883, 1886-1929 include a street index at the beginning of the directory. From 1930 to 2013, the street index appears after the personal name index.
Fire Insurance Plans
These city maps, produced approximately every 10 years, show the property lines, outlines of buildings and are colour-coded to indicate the building materials used. You may even find out the number of stories and location of doors and windows. Microfilm: 1881 - 1970. Paper: 1892, 1912, 1958.
Fire insurance plans for the city of London - 1881(revised 1888), 1892 (revised 1907) and 1912 (revised 1915, 1922) - are also available online and in paper form at the Map and Data Centre located in the basement of the D.B. Weldon Library at Western University. There are also over 900 fire insurance plans housed in the Western Archives.
Maps
A large collection of neighbourhood and city maps including annexation maps.
Assessment Rolls
Created by the municipality. Look up an address in the assessment rolls to find the name of the occupant, their occupation, a description of the property and its assessed value. Microfilm: 1905-1930. Paper: 1895, 1910, 1916, 1927, 1939, 1953, 1959, 1966. Microfiche: 1984, 1986, 1990.
Building Permit Index
The London Room has a short run of these permits from 1908 to 1926 on microfilm. The index lists the date of the permit, owner’s name, builder’s name, address of the house, nearest cross street, purpose of the permit and its value. The index is arranged by street name and then by date of the permit.
Area Clippings File
These paper files contain clippings from the London Free Press on various neighbourhoods in London from the 1950's to 1993.
Library Catalogue
Our catalogue has listings of books about the history of various London buildings.
Photographs
The London Room has print photographs of Londoners, buildings, houses and streetscenes. Ask at the Reference Desk for staff assistance. Some of these photographs may also be viewed online on the Ivey Family London Room Digital Collections.