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Researching Your Home: Other Resources

Boston Architecture Reference File at the Boston Public Library

Card index of references to written descriptions, critiques, histories, illustrations, renderings and plans of Boston buildings and their architects. Most references are to published sources, although they may refer to original photographs, architectural drawings and other unpublished materials in the collections of the BPL and other libraries. Available via specialcollections@bpl.org. 

Pre-1872 Boston Records

Suffolk County Registry of Deeds
24 New Chardon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02114 -9660

Recording Hours:
8:30am to 4:15pm
(617) 788-6250

Research Hours:
8:30am to 4:45pm
(617) 788-8575

  • Land Transaction Surveys, 1860-present.
  • Legal Documents of Land Ownership, 1634-present.
  • Boston building contracts, 1820-1860s.

Back Bay Houses

Back Bay Houses is a website with information about the "genealogies" of residential buildings in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston including information on deeds, architects and scans of original architectural drawings (many from the Boston Public Library's collections).