Oakland has excellent surviving sources for researching building histories. Oakland records are in two primary locations, the Department of Planning and Building, which has permits and related information, and the main Oakland Public Library’s Oakland History Center for tax records and biographical information.
Building Permit Records
Oakland’s building permit records begin in late 1905 (excerpt areas annexed later)
The earliest permits are listed in chronological order, one line per permit, in large manuscript Permit Ledger Books currently held by Planning’s Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey. In order to find a permit, it is helpful to have an approximate date and owner’s name from the library’s Oakland History Center (below).
To research permit history for buildings from roughly the 1910s through c.1990, visit Oakland's Self-Service Microfiche Kiosk. These records may include detailed building and alteration permits. Please be aware that not all documents have yet been scanned for all addresses, and some are unfortunately just missing. If online microfiche search fails, you can try Records Requests.
For permits from the late 1980s and into the 21st century, visit the City’s Online Permit Center. From the main menu, choose "Check Permit Status" and then enter the start/end dates and search by the address and other criteria shown.
Building Contract Notices
Before the City began issuing permits, permit-like information (names of owner, builder, designer, building type, location, cost) was sometimes recorded with the County and published in legal notices. Contracts were usually recorded only for more expensive jobs where the owner was not also the builder. They appeared throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in legal publications, newspapers, and professional journals, which can be searched once you have some basic information like owner, date, and location from the library’s block books or other sources. Planning’s Cultural Heritage Survey has a few lists of early contract notices compiled by past researchers.
Existing Documentation and Historic Reports
Planning’s Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey project documented much of the Central District, Adams Point, West Oakland, neighborhood commercial strips, 1,500 buildings on the Unreinforced Masonry list, and the highest-rated buildings citywide in the State Historic Resources Inventory in the 1980s-1990s. The State’s Built Environment Resource Directory (BERD) lists properties recorded in the State inventory by address, with a construction date (column R) and abbreviated historic name (column D). Until the inventory forms are online, bound volumes are available for research and copying at the Oakland Public Library’s History Center.
Lists of City Landmarks and Heritage Properties on the City website have historic name, construction date, and Landmark designation case file number and date. Recent nominations may be found by searching the case number or Landmarks Board meeting date, but most Landmarks records are in storage and not yet online.
For properties on the National Register, nominations are available on the National Park Service website at NPGallery NRHP Archive Search Results.
Environmental Review Documents
Development projects with potential to affect historic properties often require environmental review with detailed reports and evaluations of potential historic resources in the project area. Some are linked at Completed Environmental Review (CEQA/EIR) Documents | City of Oakland, CA or reports and studies might be in the Government Documents section at the Oakland Public Library.
Oakland Main Public Library History Center
The Oakland History Center (formerly called the Oakland History Room) is located at 125 14th Street, 2nd floor, Oakland 94612, 510-238-3222, offering expert assistance seven days a week.
This reference library offers unique historical sources including the City Tax Assessor’s block books from ~1870-1925 (hard copy only), which are essential for dating 19th or early 20th century buildings; Oakland Sanborn fire insurance maps from 1882-1950s; and a vast and well indexed archive of clipping files, photos, ephemera, rare books, directories, records of Oakland public schools and libraries, and much more.
Tax Assessor’s Block Books
The Oakland block books are located in the History Center’s map room – librarian will provide access and explain the records. Large bound volumes contain annual sets of parcel maps within the City limits (and a few pre-annexation special assessment districts) annotated with owner’s name, assessment for improvements, and other information. A year-by-year search for a new improvement on a previously vacant lot is the basic way of dating building construction before Oakland permits. Block book information can also help identify a permit whose location is unclear, provide names of other owners up to 1925, and date alterations that might have resulted in a tax increase. Sometimes personal property is assessed. A few smaller books from real estate and insurance offices have later information.
Sanborn Maps
Sanborn Maps are in huge bound volumes in the map room, dating from the 1880s to the 1950s. These nationwide publications were created for fire insurance underwriting, and provide large-scale maps of built-up areas with densely coded information about each building’s construction, form, use, and much more. Sanborn base maps were published at intervals of several decades and updated annually for subscribers (insurance companies, real estate offices, government agencies). Subscriptions lapsed at different dates, so each surviving set is a snapshot of a specific time. Updated pages can be thick and wavy with pasted-on layers. Earlier layers can often be seen with a flashlight.
Sanborn maps of various dates are also located at the Oakland Department of Planning and Building, the University of California’s Bancroft Library, and online through the Library of Congress and some other map collections. The Library of Congress Sanborn Map Archive offers Oakland maps of many dates from the 1880s to the 1950s that may be different from the hard copies in local collections.
City Directories
Directories from the 1870s to 1943 are available for tracing names and locations of people and businesses. Bound books, sometimes fragile paper and bindings. All Oakland directories are now online through the History Center website. The OHC page links to archive.org where content is searchable by text string such as address. Modern telephone books and reverse directories are in the Newspaper Room at the other end of the second floor.
Vertical Files, Photos, and Special Collections
The History Center has rows of filing cabinets, card files, other collections including clippings and ephemera as far back as the 1920s, records of many Oakland organizations and institutions including all the public schools and library branches, indexes to early “mug books” and county histories. trade and booster publications, and more. “Historic Houses” and “Districts” files were created by researchers who printed articles on new houses from 19th and early 20th century newspapers and filed them by decade, owner’s name, and/or neighborhood (“district”).
Online resources available through the History Center
Architect and Designer Resources
- UCB College of Environmental Design (CED) Archives (papers of Bay Area and UC-affiliated architects)
- College of Environmental Design Library has Architect & Engineer of California and other industry publications as well as studies of Bay Area architects and architecture
- Oakland History Center vertical files and indexes - biography, obituary, or subject
- Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey has files on many Oakland architects and builders
- Standard biography references – Ancestry.com or similar, findagrave.com, etc.
Alameda County Records
The Alameda County Recorder’s Office supports deeper research into ownership and taxation.
The Alameda County Assessor has detailed assessment-related Residential Building Records (aka Building Sheet) dating back to the 1950s that are available to the property owner only, at the Assessor’s office at 1221 Oak Street.
Local History Websites
- Oakland Heritage Alliance's pre-Internet webpage "Researching Your House" has useful tips for planning your research based on the age, appearance, and location of a building .
- Oakland Heritage Alliance’s Newsletter has featured articles on local history and preservation since 1981. The entire series is online at Oakland Heritage Alliance Newsletter .
- Oakland History Wiki offers well-documented entries on significant and/or quirky Oakland institutions, locations, individuals, and events that captured its researchers’ interest, including most Oakland City Landmarks.