Research the history of a property

Being connected to so many data sources, Chicago Cityscape is a good place to learn the history of a Chicago property. The data is best if you're looking to learn about changes since the early 2000s, but we have pointers to older data as well.

This Knowledge Base article is for property owners, prospective buyers, and for people researching for general interest, and will describe various ways to use Address Snapshot to research the history of any property in Chicago. Many of these avenues require a paid membership.

Building permits & violations

Chicago Cityscape has building permits since 2006 and building violations since 2001. Look up an address to get its Address Snapshot and click the appropriate buttons to load the building permits and building violations (these are in separate sections). If the address has any building permits or violations, then only the permits and violations at that address will load. Click "Nearby permits" and "Nearby violations" to show adjacent permits and violations.

If you want to find permits and violations before those years, use the City of Chicago's Building Permit & Inspection Records website, which has some data going back to the 1980s for many buildings.

Environmental permits & inspections

Sifting through old and recent environmental permits and inspections can give a sense of the types of businesses that operated at a location. Look up an address and then click on "Environmental Snapshot". On that page, click the appropriate buttons to load the environmental permits, environmental inspections, and storage tanks (these are in separate sections).

This level of research will require reading through many descriptions, some of which can be long. But you may uncover some helpful information, including whether there was a car repair shop, a gas station, or some other business that must comply with air quality or pollution control regulations.

Old imagery & maps

We have historical aerial imagery (photographed from airplanes, not satellites) from Cook County, also in Address Snapshot. The oldest year is 1998.

Loading the imagery

1. Underneath the map at the top of an Address Snapshot, click on "Map tools".
2. Then click "Historical imagery" (see Screenshot 1).
3. The most recent year will display first; click the radio button in the list in the map to show older years.

Screenshot 1

Finding the old maps

Address Snapshot also has direct links to the City of Chicago's "80 Acre" maps (see Screenshot 2), which are scanned plat map sheets and have some indication as to the history of parcels, streets, and alleys. Find the section in by clicking the button to "expand" the Zoning Assessment which will load a map showing the rectangular outlines of the 80 Acres maps. Click on a rectangle and a preview of the 80 Acre map will appear. Click on the "PDF" link to open the scanned sheet for that rectangle.

Screenshot 2

In the 80 Acres section you'll also find a link to the Chicago Public Library's fire insurance maps database (this database, which includes Sanborn maps in color, is provided by a third-party vendor and requires a CPL library account to access).

Sanborn maps in black & white are in a different database, also provided by the Chicago Public Library.

Landmarks & landmark districts

Many properties in Chicago are in landmark districts, are landmarked individually, or were noted in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey (CHRS). Chicago Cityscape's Address Snapshot reports will help you determine if the property you're researching is in a landmark district, has been designated as an individual landmark.

1. Look up an address and load its Address Snapshot report.
2. Scroll down to "Other Data", or click "Landmarks & historic resources" in the Table of Contents.
3. Click the "Load..." buttons in both the "Landmarks" and "Historic Resources Survey" sections.
4. Maps and data tables will load for each section and show overlapping and nearby buildings and districts.

The "Landmarks" section will also show districts and buildings that are included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Further reading: Determine historic status of a building in Chicago

Other resources

• Most Address Snapshots' property class histories go back to 2009. This could be useful to know when a vacant lot was improved.
• Refer to the City of Chicago's Your House Has a History brochure for information about additional ways to research a property in Chicago.