How to Find a Photograph of a Building 101

Every day, researchers come into the San Francisco History Center to research buildings but many may start researching at home or at work with the Center's helpful online guide, How to Research Your San Francisco Building. A frequently asked question at the Photo Desk is, "I would like to find a photograph of my building." The best way to begin the search is by using the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection's online database, with over 38,000 images. Begin the search with the street name, building name or business name.  Most of the images are not cataloged by address, but there are close to 300 images with the subject heading "residences," not quite 200 images with the subject heading "buildings," and over 500 with the subject heading "businesses" that may include the address or name of the significant owner. After the search of that database has been exhausted, one collection to use is the San Francisco Assessor's Office Negative Collection.

Sacramento Street, 325

In the 1980s, the San Francisco Public Library received over 3,000 negatives from the Assessor's Office. The collection includes properties photographed by the Assessor's Office from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.The properties were photographed as part of the process of appraising property values. In general, assessments were determined with the sale of the property, or when permits had been issued, or when new buildings were constructed. The collection guide is divided into three sections: alphabetically by street name, numerically by block number and alphabetically by business name.  The street name and block number sections do not cross-reference each other; the researcher should check both sections. If an adjacent address is listed, the researcher may want to view the adjacent property.  Many times, the Assessor's Office  photographed the adjacent property in order to properly assess the value of the focus property. For example, the image above is listed in the alphabetical list by street name as "Sacramento Street, 325 - Precision Printing Co."  What is not noted in the guide listing is that Vincent's Barber Shop also had the address 325 Sacramento Street and that 333 Sacramento Street, Dickey and Harleen Studios is partially shown. The photograph was taken on January 28, 1962 (at a closer look, one can see the Assessor's Office photographer's reflection in Vincent's Barber Shop window). Through the years the buildings have remained intact and have not been altered too much, only the businesses have changed.

 In order to use the collection guide section by block number, the researcher needs to know the block number of the building. To find the block and lot number of a property, use the San Francisco Property Information Map. For the property, one can view the parcel information.When the envelope of negatives are pulled by block number, the envelope can include anywhere from one negative to 12 strips of 35mm negatives. The image below is negative #21 from one of the strips in the envelope "Block 520" listed in the guide numerically by block number. The address for this building is 1760 - 1770 Filbert Street. Many of the negatives arrived from the Assessor's Office without dates.  The researcher will need to use deductive skills in order to date the negative (i.e., the era of the cars parked in front of the home).

Block 520

Once a property has been identified on any of the lists, the researcher will want to come in during the open hours of the Photo Desk to view the negatives. To examine the negatives, white gloves will be provided for the researcher to wear, and a light box, loupe and/or magnifying glass will be available for use.  Reproductions may be requested. As patrons order scans from the San Francisco Assessor's Office Negative Collection, the scans have been cataloged and added to the online database.