All of the information provided to me here was fantastic. I did attend the event at the library last week. It was extremely interesting. I had the chance to walk from the Grove Street Path to the main library. How very beautiful! Van Vorst Park is spendid. Hoping to call Jersey City home very soon. The attorney review process is not going as quickly as I would like. Thanks again to all who passed along great info.

Go to the deeds & mortgages section at the Hudson County administration building on 595 Newark Ave. You can keep back tracking till you find the original owners when the house was first built. Also if you go to the County tax dept. on Pavonia Ave across the way to the rear of the Cnty. Admin. build. you can get the book & page # to guide you in deeds & mortgages.

The New Jersey Room at the main library has local maps:

http://www.jclibrary.org/service/njroom.php

The older ones (I'm thinking late 19th century) often identify the landowner, and show the shape of the floorplan of any houses. By checking maps from different years, you can sometimes figure out the decade your house was built (i.e. if it shows up in the 1890s map, but not the 1880s one, you now have a ~10 year range it could have been built in.)

Quote:

Thanks again for all of the wonderful information. We have registered for the seminar at the library and look forward to uncovering mysteries in the near future.

Jimmy,

I believe the area is considered Bergen-Lafayette. I hope the seminar will cover how and where to locate maps.

Hey tdl -

What part of the city are you in? There are some good older maps available online for JC.

jimmy

Thank you so much for the information. We have registered for the seminar at the library. Looking forward to digging in the near future.

I'm not positive about this, but I believe that the earliest lot map goes back to 1873 or so.

I'm sure this will be covered in the session at the library, but if you go to the tax office in City Hall with your block and lot number (it's on your tax bill), they'll let you see and photocopy anything in your folder, which will usually include a tax photo from the late 1930s. If you need a higher quality reproduction, bring a notebook computer and scanner. My understanding is that most of the old blueprints were lost in the fire at City Hall long ago that destroyed the domes that used to top the corners of the building.

Yes, you're in luck as this is Preservation Month and there is a session just for that purpose on Thursday, May 22, 6?8 pm in the NJ Room of the Main Library at 472 Jersey Avenue. Just check the JCLC website for the list of events for the month.
http://jclandmarks.org/PreservationMonth2008.shtml

We would like to ascertain the year a house was built, obtain original blueprints and any permits that were granted for renovation/construction. Does anyone know the best place to begin hunting for this information?

Thanks in advance for responses.