Researching your heritage property

You may have just bought an old house and would like to know more about it, would like to restore your heritage property or find out about who lived in it. Researching your property can assist you in understanding it and what it important about it.

1. Heritage Inventory

Each heritage item and conservation area has an inventory which provides information as to its significance. These can be found under the links below:

Heritage Conservation Areas

Heritage Items

2. History of the local area

Maps

Library resources

Council’s Library holds a range of Local Studies material including:

  • Council advertisements
  • Local newspapers

Contact a member of our Heritage and History team and ask about the Local Studies Collection.

The Heritage Branch, NSW office of Environment and Heritage has prepared a number of Heritage maintenance guides that provide advice on maintenance of buildings. They are free to download from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage website and are found under the heading 'Manage heritage items'. These documents are not a substitute for professional advice. Employing a conservation specialist is usually the easiest and often, in the long run, the most economical way of ensuring the job is done well.
The National Library of Australia also has a large amount of online content.

Local history societies

 

3. Your property

House History Research

Whilst it may be difficult to always obtain the exact date of a house, there are a number of resources which may assist you in searching for the history of a house. As with any research activity, house history research requires patience, exactness and a touch of lateral thinking. The main place to begin is by asking the question - what is it that I really want to know? Your research strategy can be determined by the answer to your question.

The library has curated a House History Guide which can help you trace the history of your house and also provides a service to assist you if required.

The guide can help you find:

  • When your house was built
  • Names of the owners and occupiers
  • Whether your house has a name
  • Changes relating to your house
  • Name of the subdivisions

See the House History Research page to access the House History Guide and for more information about the service the library provides.

Sustainable Heritage Building Guide - a guide created by the NSW Government which presents various research methodologies and sustainable interventions you can explore to improve the energy efficiency of your building while protecting heritage significance.

Key heritage features - This page provides research into key features which may help you identify the style of your house and what particular elements are characteristic for property.

Heritage Studies - This page provides a comprehensive inventory of heritage studies which have been undertaken on particular properties, sites and areas, features within the Inner West.

Seeking Rituals in Strange Places - This study provides an insight into the historic relics left by occupants in their homes which may be uncovered doing demolition works to historic dwellings:

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Seeking rituals in strange places (~~~DocAnnotation.type.3367~~~ ~~~DocAnnotation.size.3367~~~)

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Page last updated: 05 Nov 2024