Between 1939 and 1941, the Works Progress Administration, in conjunction with the New York City Department of Taxation, organized teams of photographers to shoot pictures of every building in the five boroughs of New York City. The photographs were taken to improve the process of determining and recording property value assessments. Guide to the 1940s Tax Department photographs, 1939-1951
How to Search for Tax Photos
If you know your block and lot numbers:
- Type “block=Block# AND lot=Lot#” into the search bar and press search
- eg. block=118 AND lot=8
To find your block and lot, use NYCityMap.
Or search by address:
- No abbreviations: words should be spelled completely; eg. North, saint, street
- No apostrophes; eg. Saint Anns Street
- No dashes; eg. 3446 91 Street
- No ordinal indicators: examples of ordinal indicators are “th” and “rd”; eg. 1 Street
- Street numbers should be written numerically; eg. 14 Street
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