What Did My House Look Like Before? How to Trace a Property's Past
Tracing a house backwards is a research project with a very satisfying payoff. Each source answers a different question, and used in the right order they compound.
1. Aerial imagery — the shape of the place
Start here because it takes seconds and reframes everything else. Open RewindEarth, paste the address, and scrub. You will see additions appear, pools get filled in, driveways move, outbuildings come and go, and mature trees shrink back to saplings as you run time backwards.
Note the years where something visibly changes. Those dates become search terms for every other source below.
2. County permit records — the paperwork behind the change
Once you know an addition appeared between two years, the building department can tell you who pulled the permit, what it was for, and often what the plans looked like. Many counties now have online permit search; the ones that do not will usually answer an email.
3. The deed chain — who owned it
The county recorder or register of deeds holds the transfer history. Working backwards through grantor/grantee indexes gives you a chain of owners and dates, which is the spine that everything else hangs on.
4. Sanborn fire insurance maps — the building itself, pre-1960
For urban and small-town properties, Sanborn maps are extraordinary: they show building footprints, construction material, number of storeys, porches, and outbuildings, block by block, often updated every decade or two from the 1860s to the 1960s. The Library of Congress has digitised a large portion and offers them free.
5. Census and city directories — who lived there
US census records are released after 72 years and are indexed by address in many cities. City directories, held by public libraries and increasingly digitised, list residents by street address year by year — often the fastest way to put names in a house for a given decade.
6. Street-level photographs
Google Street View has been capturing many US streets since 2007 and keeps its history; the clock icon in Street View lets you step back through captures. Local historical societies and newspaper archives are the other rich vein — a house that burned, sold notably, or sat on a changing street often appears in the paper.
Keep a dated log. Every screenshot, deed reference and permit number should be recorded with its date and source at the moment you find it. Reconstructing where a fact came from six months later is miserable.
What this will not tell you
None of these sources reliably reveal interior layout before renovation, buried structures, or informal work done without permits. For those you are into physical evidence: old paint lines, framing anomalies, and neighbours who have been on the street for forty years.
Common questions
How far back can I trace my house?
In most of the United States, deeds go back to the original land grant or patent, often the 1800s. Photographs of the building itself typically begin much later, and aerial photography of the parcel usually begins in the 1930s to 1950s depending on region.
Are old aerial photos of houses free?
Recent ones are — RewindEarth covers 2014 onward at no cost. Film-era photographs are usually free to view at county offices and university libraries, with a fee for high-quality scans.
What are Sanborn maps?
Detailed fire-insurance maps of US towns and cities produced from the 1860s to the 1960s, showing individual building footprints, materials and uses. Much of the collection is free at the Library of Congress.
Can Street View show me the past?
Yes. In Google Street View, the clock or history control lets you step through earlier captures, in many US locations back to roughly 2007.
Try it on your own address
Paste an address or a Google Maps link and scrub through every aerial snapshot on record. Free, no account.