Research Guides and Bibliographies: Architecture & Design Collections Research Guide: Researching a Building

Researching a Building

An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles by Robert Winter; David Gebhard
Call Number: PLAZA : REFERENCE NA735.L55 G44 2003
ISBN: 1586853082
Publication Date: 2003-09-24
Dictionary of Islamic Architecture by Andrew Petersen
Call Number: PLAZA : REFERENCE NA380 .P48 1996
ISBN: 0415060842
Publication Date: 1995-12-18
Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture by R. Stephen Sennott (Editor)
Call Number: PLAZA : REFERENCE NA680 .E495 2004
ISBN: 1579582435
Publication Date: 2003-12-09
Encyclopedia of Architectural Technology by Jacqueline Glass
Call Number: L2 : REFERENCE (TH9 .G53 2002 )
ISBN: 0471885592
Publication Date: 2002-04-03
Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World by Paul Oliver (Editor)
Call Number: PLAZA : REFERENCE NA208 .E53 1997
ISBN: 0521564220
Publication Date: 1997-11-27
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture by Ernest E. Burden
Call Number: PLAZA REFERENCE: NA31 .B83 1998
ISBN: 0070089876
Publication Date: 1998-03-01
The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture by Nikolaus Pevsner; John Fleming; Hugh Honour
Call Number: PLAZA : REFERENCE NA31 .F55 1999
ISBN: 9780140513233
Publication Date: 2000-03-01

Archipedia
SAH Archipedia is an authoritative online encyclopedia of the built world published by the Society of Architectural Historians and the University of Virginia Press, and contains histories, photographs, and maps for more than 18,000 structures and places.
Built Works Registry
Global IDs for Architecture and the Built Environment
City of Los Angeles Department of Building & Safety
Building Permits (from 1905 to present), Certificates of Occupancy (from 1940 to present), Range Files (violations), Plot Plans, Geology/Soils Reports, Affidavits/ZIs, Approved Building Plans, Board Files, Administrative Approvals, Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical (from 1985 to 1990 and from 1996 to present). These records are available for all commercial and residential buildings. These public records are for viewing and/or copying except for blueprints. To obtain copies of blueprints, this Department requires: Written authorization from the property owner, the licensed architect/engineer of record, a copy of a current owner's grant deed.
FORT: LA
Friends Of Residential Treasures: LA (FORT: LA) seeks to promote stronger civic identity among and cohesion between the many urban villages that make up Los Angeles County by celebrating, studying, preserving, and increasing access to the historically and architecturally significant homes of Los Angeles. Their online Discovery Center provides extensive fact sheets and bibliographies on significant architectural sites in Los Angeles.
Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) collections are among the largest and most heavily used in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Since 2000, documentation from the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) has been added to the holdings. The collections document achievements in architecture, engineering, and landscape design in the United States and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types, engineering technologies, and landscapes, including examples as diverse as the Pueblo of Acoma, houses, windmills, one-room schools, the Golden Gate Bridge, and buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
HistoricPlacesLA
HistoricPlacesLA is the first online information and management system specifically created to inventory, map and help protect the City of Los Angeles’ significant historic resources. It showcases the city's diversity of historic resources, including architecturally significant buildings and places of social importance, as well as historic districts, bridges, parks, and streetscapes.
LA Conservancy Historical Research Guide
LA Conservancy guide to researching historic properties in the City of Los Angeles includes sections on Researching the site (Legal Description, Tract Maps), Researching the building (Building Permit, Maps: Sanborn Insurance Maps), Researching the people and events associated with the building (Deeds, Historical and Biographical Research , Vital Records, Historical Los Angeles Times Archive).
LA Public Library History of Your House
Guide to researching the history of a house using library resources.
Los Angeles County Property Assessment Information System
Search for Los Angeles County property assessment information by address, assessor ID, or intersection.
Pacific Coast Architecture Database
This website provides a range of information on the buildings and architects of California, Oregon and Washington. Also included are professionals in other fields who have made an impact on the built environment, such as landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, urban planners, developers, and building contractors. Building records are tied to those of their creators (when known) and include historical and geographical information and images. Bibliographical information, such as magazine and book citations and web sites, has also been linked for creators and their partnerships and structures.
Sanborn Maps digitized by the Library of Congress
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist provides a searchable database of the fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the collections of the Geography and Map Division. The online checklist is based upon the Library's 1981 publication Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress and will be continually updated to reflect new acquisitions.The online checklist also contains links to existing digital images from our collection and will be updated as new images are added. The Sanborn maps are arranged by state, then city and release data. Currently there are over 25,000 sheets from over 3000 city sets online in the following states: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NV, OH, OK, PA, SD, TX, VA, VT, WY and Canada, Mexico, Cuba sugar warehouses, and U.S. whiskey warehouses.
Using Zimas to Find Historic Preservation Information
Directions for searching for information on historic resources in the City of Los Angeles Zoning Information and Map Access System (ZIMAS)
ZIMAS
City of Los Angeles Zoning Information and Map Access System

Databases (Access is available only to on-site readers and Getty staff)

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
Journal articles about architecture, design, urban planning, historic preservation, and landscape architecture.

Coverage: 1741– (updated weekly)

Link to Avery via ProQuest

Art and Architecture Archive
A full-text archive of magazines comprising key research material in the fields of art and architecture, dating from the late-nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Subjects covered include fine art, decorative arts, architecture, interior design, industrial design, and photography. The magazines are scanned from cover-to-cover and presented as full-color page images; detailed indexing permits quick, efficient searching and navigation of this material.

Coverage: 1895–2005

Link to Art and Architecture Archive via ProQuest

Art Index Retrospective (H.W. Wilson)
Over half a century of art literature covering fine, decorative, and commercial art. Content includes high-quality indexing of nearly 600 publications, many of which are peer-reviewed, and citations of over 25,000 book reviews.

Coverage: 1929–1984

Link to database

Freely Available Online Journals

Architectural Record via US Modernist

Coverage: most issues from 1891-2013

Arts & Architecture

Coverage: selected content from 1945-1967