Researching Your House

 

Many of the homes in Old Mountain View have very interesting and unique histories. An old newspaper article or telephone book might reveal that your home was the residence of a former mayor. An old photo might offer insight into the changes that have been made to the house over the years. 

Mountain View is lucky to have many historic resources to find more information about your homes history:

Mountain View History Center

The Mountain View History Center is located on the second floor of the Mountain View Library. The center is staffed by members of the Mountain View Historical Association. Located within the center are the combined archives of both the Historical Association and the library.

Here, you can look up historic photos of your house, research historic Sanborn maps to determine its age and original building footprint, and research documents that may offer insight into former owners of your structure.

Now and Then- Exploring Mountain View's Architectural Heritage

Although this book was published in the 1970s, it still is an excellent resource for any historic home owner in Mountain View to check out. The book includes photos and descriptions of dozens of historic structures in the city, and describes the history of the city's various neighborhoods. The book also offers illustrated descriptions of popular historic architectural styles in Mountain View, and offers some advice on restoration efforts. You can check out this book from the Library, or view it in the History Center.

Mountain View Library Historic Photo Database

The library has scanned in hundreds of historic photos on to their web site, including many photos of historic homes. There are a variety of ways to access this somewhat hard to find database.

You can search for photos of your home by typing in your street address into the library catolog's search engine under the "key word" option. Or, you can browse the entire photo gallery by searching for "PHA" under the call number search option.