Ingrid Abramovitch

In the late 1930s, NYC used WPA money to hire unemployed workers to photograph every building in the city for the Department of Finance. All the photos still exist–I went online and ordered a print of my Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, brownstone, which in the photo looks almost identical to its appearance today (except for the Model T out front!). There is a chapter in my book called Detective Work: Researching Your Old house, on p. 266. This will help you to research the history of your home no matter where you live. But if you live in NYC, here is how to obtain your Tax ID photo: http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/taxphotos/home.shtml

Preservation magazine has a great online piece about the history of the project. Don’t miss the pictures of the Clinton Hill carriage house that had been refaced at some point in hideous Permastone (complete with pink awning). Truly one of the ugliest homes in Brooklyn, until the owner, Joseph Delgado, found the Tax ID photo and used it as a model to restore his home’s facade. Quite the before and after!
http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/story-of-the-week/2010/worth-a-thousand-words.html